Lord of the Ice and Winds
by mariowarfare3
Summary: Fanfiction Sequel to Naruto Shippuden - The world is now at peace. War is nonexistent. Yet, an ancient dark evil within Konoha's borders threatens this newly created peace. Can young and valiant Minato Uzumaki, son of the two strongest wind-users in the world, avert such destruction and keep Evil forever at Bay? Ice-Release Minato, NO LEMONS (AU)
1. Enter: Minato Uzumaki!

BTW: I don't own Naruto. Naruto is owned by Kishimoto only.

Temari sat on the dinner table of the Namikaze household as she awaited her husband to have dinner. Her thoughts trailed back nearly 5 years ago, when it happened.

_-Flashback-_

_Naruto stood still, gripping his hands tightly as his friend Shikamaru was dying from wounds sustained by the Ten Tails. Konoha 11 stood watching him, worried about the yellow-haired Jinchuriki. Suddenly, a glow appeared on Shikamaru's chest._

_"What is this?" Ino said._

_Sakura suddenly realized that familiar chakra glow. "He's healing Shikamaru…. Why Naruto?" she cried inside "why do you have to do everything? Just do what you have to do…. I'll heal him…."_

_Ino, almost reading Sakura's mind, replied "No, Sakura, Naruto is doing this subconsciously. He wants to heal his friends!"_

_With that, a sudden outpour of emotions flew through Ino's emotional network into everybody's minds. Everybody felt the outpour of sensations flowing through their bodies._

_"What is this…" Ino pondered. All of the experiences Naruto felt during his fight with Sasuke at the Valley of the End were experienced. _

_"Naruto…." Sakura regarded her friend sadly as she remembered how he risked his life to attempt to bring Sasuke back, his best friend, but nevertheless failed._

_"This is all he was feeling…" Ino thought._

_All of Konoha 11, and even a few random dwellers form the other villagers, sadly pondered upon Naruto's sacrifice in his attempt to rescue his bestest of friends, Sasuke Uchiha, even though he was a traitor and war criminal in his own right._

_But most affected by all of this was none other than a blonde wind mistress. _

_"Naruto…. How many people must you save…." Temari sadly recounted on how much the blonde Genin did for her younger brother Gaara. Temari suddenly realized that this boy, this mere Genin, had taken the brunt of so many people's pain. Being a jinchurike ostracized him. Being a failed savior of his best friend cursed him. Taking the blame for Gaara's loss of Shikaku demolished him. Yet in the ending, nobody realized that he himself was the hero all along._

_"Naruto, how long will you be alone? How long will you be the little child curled into a ball? How long will people rely on you? How long will you take the pain of everybody's burdens?" Temari pondered. Then she realized something…._

_"Gaara and Naruto… they're the same. I can feel it… I can feel Gaara's pain and sorrow of being alone…. I can feel the jeers of people who despised him fall on Gaara and even his companions… his sister…. me" Temari thought._

_"But Naruto…. He's just the same…. The same jeers that Gaara and I felt…. Were experienced by him…. but he was different!" Temari remembered. "He turned sorrow into happiness, into strength to be known for who he was, to love others! Because, he knew that strength could only come form protecting someone…."._

_"But that couldn't come with a cost. His false mask of happiness was a painful one to don. The pain of being in so much sorrow, yet giving a smile of never-ending love to those around him, truly destroyed him from the inside."_

_Then Temari realized "Naruto feels so demolished in the inside because he is alone. He may have many friends, but few know his pains well enough. What he needs is someone who understands his pain…."_

_Then Temari made a resolution. "And he probably understands the pains I went through in taking care of Gaara…."_

_-Flashback End-_

Temari laughed. So many realizations had come that day. Shikamaru, one of her good friends, had told her that on that day of the Ten Tails attack, he had realized that Naruto was too dumb in his own right to become a Hokage without screwing up the village. He had wanted to become a brother figure to him, a wise brother at that – to advise him and remain by his side forever so that he would never be alone without advice. Sweet advice that would promise a successful office as Hokage and that would further push his plans for peace more effectively.

And one more realization had come. And that was how much of a ninja that Naruto had become. And how much of a great life-long companion he would be for her. She knew Naruto's pains, as she was a sister of a Jinchuriki who went through similar struggles, with her not being left unscathed…. Naruto truly knew her pain, no, felt hers, because he himself was a Jinchuriki! And besides, he had this unfailing love, dedication, loyalty, and faith in him that she could not possibly refuse. And that was seen in his unfailing love, dedication, loyalty and faith in rescuing his best friend Sasuke, even when it costed him a limb.

-Flashback-

(Valley of the End)

"Rasengan!" Naruto cried.

"Blaze Release: Kagatsuchi!"

With a large explosion, the two attacks collided and obliterated the entire valley. Naruto and Sasuke lied side by side, each one missing an arm.

"Naruto… why would you go so far for me…..?" Sasuke asked.

"Because…. You're the only friend I really have…. And the closest thing to a brother I ever loved" Naruto said.

"But how do you know that I won't attack the world like this again?…" Sasuke asked.

"Because…." Naruto replied, "I know that you are no idiot. I know that you would eventually see the light of having comrades in your heart. What's with that look on your face? You're not planning something stupid, are you?"

"Shut up, stupid…." Sasuke replied with a smirk.

Naruto smiled.

-Flashback End-

Of course, she remembered, Naruto had gotten another arm when synthesized an artificial one from the first hokage's (Hashirama Senju, Tsunade's grandfather) cells.

The world was a beautiful place now. With a heart and will of fire, Naruto had transformed the world. Peace had come almost instantly, as he forgave all those that hated him and instead responded with a expression of tranquility and love. Even Sasuke Uchiha, who had been a war criminal for 3 years, had been pacified by Naruto's seemingly unfailing love and grace. His unwavering faith truly changed the world. War was practically nonexistent in their life. And with that a new era could begin. And most of all, Naruto had found a person that understood all of his pain. Naruto could smile. Naruto could laugh. Naruto could joke around like a mindless baka. But the phantom pain of his past experiences would never leave him. He **needed** somebody, somebody that would understand his pains. The opposite was true. Naruto needed someone, someone's whose pain he could understand, and that special someone understand his pain. He needed a deep companionship, no, not just a friendship, but a deep relationship where both parties understood each other's pains on an experimental level. That person was here now, sitting at the table, wondering where her energetic, lively, hardworking, and nevertheless baka husband could be right now.

The door opened.

"Hi, my little pretty desert lily…." Said a glob of spiky blonde hair. The man was dressed in an atrociously bright orange and black suit. Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze had not changed for the past 6 years. Now almost 23, Naruto was a definite candidate for the office of Hokage. Which would not be long. A lazy silver haired jonin was bound to resign the job and go back to a laid back life playing cards with his bowl-shaped haired ally in the nearest bar.

"Hello, my flashy prince of a husband…." Temari smirked.

Naruto pouted. What was the wrong with the color orange? Never mind that, he was now home with his wife, who he would have no other for. Temari and Naruto had lived a happy life together, both joined together by the shared traumatic experiences of being a sibling to a Jinchuriki and being a Jinchuriki himself, respectively. But out of two stories of sadness came an ultimate story of happiness. That story was of the seemingly unbreakable bond said blond-haired baka and wind mistress shared, a bond that seemed inseparable and that seemed to be able to last for eternity, with both joyful to the heavens for each other's presence. And out of that happy story would come another happy tale, the tale of our fellow blond-haired hero, the protagonist of our story…..

A sudden blur of yellow hair flew across Naruto's back to the arms of his loving mother.

"Mommy!" 4 year old Minato Uzumaki cried.

"Minato!" cried said loving mother.

Temari caught the yellow bundle of energy. Naruto and the wind mistress laughed a their fortune of having such an amusing and lovable son as Minato.

"Mommy! Dinner tasted so good!" Minato cried.

Temari had a confused expression. Naruto gulped.

"Minato…. What did you eat…. Wait a sec', N-A-R-U-T-O!" cried the angered wind mistress.

Naruto prepared for his death call. He sprinted around the dinner table, with an enraged Temari chasing him around, metal fan outstretched, ready to beat her husband half-dead for giving their son such a malnutritious meal.

"NARUTO! WAIT TILL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU FOR FEEDING OUR SON RAMEN!" cried Temari.

"Minato! HELP!" Cried Naruto.

But Minato didn't budge. He walked to the pantry, went to the secret stash in the corner only he and naruto knew about, grabbed some popcorn, put it into a paper bag, and put it in the microwave.

"Hmmm, 1 minute to heat up my movie snack. Is that enough? Most likely" Minato said with a smirk.

**"0:55" **

"NARUTO! DO YOU NOT CARE ABOUT OUR SON'S CAREER AS A NINJA? WITH ALL OF THIS CRAP YOU'RE FEEDING HIM, I WOULD BE SURPRISED IF HE COULD EVEN THROW A SHURIKEN!"

"**0:41"**

"WAIT, TEMARI! OUR WORLD IS AT PEACE! HE DOESN'T HAVE TO FIGHT ANYMORE! HE'LL LIVE LONG IN A WORLD WHERE THERE IS NO WAR!"

**"0:29"**

"WELL, WITH HIM EATING ALL OF THIS CRAP, I WOULD BE SURPRISED IF HE EVEN MADE IT PAST THE AGE OF 20!"

**"0:17"**

"DO YOU NOT CARE ABOUT OUR CHILD'S GROWTH! WITH NO MORE WAR, NOW OUR VILLAGE'S CHILDREN WILL NOT EXERCISE OR TRAIN TO FIGHT! CHILD OBESITY WILL SKYROCKET!"

**"0:09"**

"PLEASE!" Naruto wailed. "Mercy!"

**"0:04"**

Minato pulled out the extra-butter.

"I GOT YOU NOW NARUTO!". With that, Temari caught up to Naruto and gripped him by the collar, other hand read with the fearsome metal fan of hers.

**"0:01"**

"Please, Temari, I can explain…." Naruto whimpered.

Minato pulled the popcorn out of the microwave, sat on the living room sofa, which faced the dinner table, dropped the butter from the bowl onto the piping hot popcorn, and watched the show.

"This is the SECOND time I caught you eating ramen, Naruto!" an enraged Temari yelled. "And with you feeding this to our son…. You should be ready for the consequences!"

Minato munched on his buttered popcorn, waiting for the final beat down to occur.

"Temari….. please…. YAHHHHHH!" screamed orange-clothed idiot.

The beating lasted so long, Minato was able to walk back and get a second** and** a third bag of buttered-popcorn.

A steaming Naruto laid on the dinner table floor, face full of bruises and scars.

Temari laughed sweetly. "Ah, my baka husband, you sure know how to enrage a righteous woman's fury… Wait, Minato, where did you get that popcorn? Who would buy you such an atrocious snack?"

Naruto suddenly revived himself and looked at Minato with pleading puppy eyes….

_"Please Minato, have mercy on your KIND daddy for buying you YOUR favorite snacks… after all, we made a deal that if I bought it for you, we could share, and you WOULDN'T tell your mother…." _

Minato didn't buy it.

With a single pointing of a finger toward his know mangled form of a father, Minato continued to munch on his salty and oily snack as his mother continued to beat his father as red as a tomato.

_"Red Hot Habanero, eh? Daddy, grandmommy Kushina sure lives inside our scorching desert sun of fury…."_ Thought Minato with a shudder.

And fury she was. The furious righteous woman turned her baka husband as red as a **crushed** tomato for daring to feed their child such unhealthy food.

When said righteous woman was done with her "rebuking", the now red, not orange, but red future Hokage sat on the dinner table, eating salad and tofu soup.

"There, you guys are now eating healthy. Minato, I am so sorry for letting your stupid father feed you in such an **unforgivable** way" Temari said while giving her idiotic husband a narrow eye."

Minato laughed. "Daddy, mommy told me that you told her that your father was the Yellow Flash, and your mommy was the Red Hot Habanero, and that when they gave birth to you, you became the Orange Future Hokage of Konoha. But I guess mommy's disciplining of you makes you just the Red Habanero part, doesn't it?" smirked Minato as he looked at his father's mangled form.

Naruto grimaced. "Shut up, Minato."

"Knock it off, both of you!" cried Temari as she bonked both of them on the head. "Continue to eat my delicious cooking!" Temari said (with Naruto and Minato looking at their vegetable-based meal in revulsion). "Oh yeah, and don't forgot the chestnuts I roasted this morning!"

**"Chestnuts, no, not the chestnuts! Anything but the chestnuts! I would rather eat Auntie Sakura's soldier pills than those balls of muck!" **cried Minato in his head.

Naruto had similar thoughts. The word "chestnut", as in Temari's dictionary, was a round ball of vegetation that was blackened to a burnt crisp, then tossed with soy sauce and served with protein powder sprinkled on top. Naruto and Minato looked at each other, for once in total agreement. Minato looked at his dad with pleading puppy eyes.

_"No, not __**those**__ puppy eyes…." _Naruto thought. Unfortunately, when Minato was born, he inherited Naruto's golden spiky hair and tall robust figure, but unfortunately inherited his mother's teal eyes and whisker-less facial features. So, when Minato did his cute and innocent "puppy eyed act" on Naruto, Naruto would be facing the same beautiful teal eyes of his wife that won him over nearly 5 years ago.

_"Dang it, please stop Minato…" _thought Naruto as he closed his eyes and turned his face away form those beautiful green orbs. Unfortunately, when he turned back, he saw those same teal stars looking at him

_"FINE! YOU WIN…. JUST DON'T DO IT AGAIN!" _yelled Naruto psionically to his now internally-cackling son. Naruto passed a cup of juice under the table to his son when he thought his wife wasn't looking.

Yes, when he** thought** his wife wasn't looking.

The four pigtails of the wind mistress slowly revolved, revealing an evil smiling face with sharp, canine teeth, eyes that spoke of death, and a major head-scrunch.

"Naruto….. Minato….." Temari said in a sweet, yet sinister voice.

"Minato…. run…." Naruto said and gulped.

"You…. don't need to say that….. dad" Minato trembled.

-Hokage Tower-

Kakashi Hatake, the 6th Hokage, sighed as he stared at the tall pile of paperwork on his desk.

_"Paperwork…. Any kage's worst enemy…." _Thought the lazy silver-haired jonin. He looked out toward the Hokage stone faces.

_"Sensei, who knew your job was so hard?_" Kakashi thought as he looked at the Fourth Hokage's stone face. He shuddered at the thought of his teacher, who was feared across all ninja lands in his time for his speed and amazing shinobi skill, having such a dull desk job.

_"Oh well, at least his son can save me from this enclosed hell…" _thought Kakashi as he remembered a yellow-haired and dense, yet energetic, loveable, and hopeful ramen-loving genin. Then he shuddered again at the thought of his loveable pupil wanting such a horrid desk job as such. He turned around, wanting to get his mind off such desire and instead keep his mind on the task ahead.

Then, he saw something that made him make a very big eye-smile.

Two blonde blurs came sprinting out of the Namikaze household, one of them frantically peppering the area with Hiraishin kunai and attempting to teleport away, the other smaller one looking behind himself in fear as he ran faster than Rock Lee away from an unknown menace.

That menace showed itself, no herself, 2 seconds later. An enraged figure with 4 blonde pigtails and a large metal fan blew up the front porch of the household with her powerful _Wind Scythe_ jutsu. "NARUTO! MINATO! WAIT TILL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU TWO RASCALS!"

Kakashi sighed. This was his original Genin team all over again, when his master, Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, taught him most of the ninja skills he knew. _"Sensei, why do your kin always marry foreign kunoichi that always put terror in most men's hearts? Why always the strong-willed women?" _thought Kakashi. He shuddered at the thought of Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto's mother and Minato's wife, who was named the "Red Hot Habanero of Death" for a reason. He remembered how when she ever came across their team in the forest, she would see to it that they were extra clean, sanitary, got a good bath, and ate their vegetables. Or else… the thoughts of Obito being pounded senseless on the head ran through Kakashi's mind. Nobody, **NOBODY** argued with Kushina and escaped without a scratch.

His attention was drawn to two sudden screams, and a merrily cackling voice. He turned his eye toward the commotion and saw a tornado being formed in the middle of the village, with two blonde bobble-heads flying through. Kakashi engaged his Sharingan, and watched the two.

_"They're traveling so fast, I can't even track them without losing sight of them for a moment."_ Thought Kakashi as he calmly went back to his paperwork. _"Not that it's not normal to see this. This has been going on for like what, a year?"_.

Something caught Kakashi's eye in the midst of the atrocious paper work.

_"Hmmm….. recently large numbers of shinobi on patrol were found missing near Fire Country's Borders…. I gotta look into this soon….."._


	2. Icy News

BTW I don't own Naruto. Only Kishimoto owns it.

Chapter 2

Kakashi Hatake decided to call a 5 Kage Summit on the missing-nin issue. With the new peace Naruto helped to establish, all foreign ninja patrolled each other's lands as a sign of trust that one could help another. Unfortunately, this was only the beginning of such a trust-filled alliance, and it wasn't quite perfect. Not all ninjas trusted one another, even after the Fourth Shinobi War. Some attempted to incite rebellions in their respective countries, although to often much failure. Nevertheless, when a village's ninjas went missing in another's, particularly a very powerful village such as Konoha, suspicions arose that such a powerful village was trying to eradicate certain powerful patrol ninjas from other villages so that it could weaken their power and once again regain dominance over the other villages that it so sought to make "peace" with.

As Kakashi sat in the Summit Room, his thoughts lingered once again to the Alliance. Could he diffuse such a harsh political situation without war, which all villages were trying to avoid all along?

Such worry was cut short and turned to brash attention, however, when the door flung open and the Raikage, Ay, in his usual robust manner, waltzed gracefully yet powerfully in and took a seat in a chair in the right of the Summit table that barely fitted him.

Next up came Onoki, the seemingly senile, yet very dangerous Tsukikage of the Stone. He sat on Kakashi's left.

Then came Mei Terumi, Mizukage of the Mist. Kakashi shuddered at the thought of such an old woman still wanting to get married. She sat on Kakashi's front.

Finally came Gaara, Kazekage of the sand. He sat next to Kakashi's spot on the table. He nodded toward Kakashi.

"How are you, Kazekage-Dono? How did you find your sister and brother-in-law?"

"Very well, I suppose. They seem to have a very…. Dynamic relationship… but they both nevertheless intensely love each other, and am happy that my sister Temari was able to find happiness in my best friend, and my best friend in her."

Kakashi nodded. He knew of the abuse the former Kazekage, Gaara's father, gave to his children, and was glad that Temari was able to find happiness and love from such a harsh and scarring childhood in Naruto's warm and kind heart. Kakashi was also glad of the opposite – his student Naruto had been able to find happiness and love from a similarly harsh and scarring childhood in Temari's equally warm and kind heart (_despite her short temper_, Kakashi shuddered). Kakashi realized how lucky both of them were – Naruto, despite his terrible childhood in being ostracized for being a Jinchuriki, had sought to love others and protect the few that he cared about, and who also cared about him. Temari, likewise, despite a terrible and harsh childhood under the abuse of her father and sharing the ostracizing of her brother Gaara (as Gaara too was a Jinchuriki), sought to love Gaara and stand up for him when he was persecuted despite the pain that his ostracizing gave her. Both Naruto and Temari had found similar beautifully self-sacrificial love in each other, and thanked the heavens for finding such beautiful people in their lives (each other) that they could live forever with. With such strong self-sacrificial and loving hearts that both had developed through forgiving their adversaries during their childhoods, they both had a love that when joined together, seemed nearly indestructible. With that, such a happy marriage and a happy, virtually indestructible connection sprouted out of two seeds that seemed to be destined for misery, sorrow, sadness, and self-pity. This kind of love had to arise through optimism to love others even when those other people hated you and serve them in a self-sacrificial way. Such love indeed made one strong.

_"Sensei…. you and Kushina's will of fire burns brightly in your son and your daughter-in-law…. I wish you two could see your corresponding characters in the next generation and marriage…." _Kakashi eye smiled at that as he remembered his sensei's indestructible will to serve his village, even when it would turn against him and his son by ostracizing the Jinchuriki son of a Hokage, an ironic action indeed. This was definitely found in Naruto's will of fire. Likewise, he saw Kushina's strong will and a I-don't-take-no-for-an-answer determination in protecting and loving her precious people, even when they too would ostracize her for being the previous Jinchuriki for the Kyuubi – a burden that would be passed on to her son, Naruto. Such kindness, beautiful warmness in character to others, and unwavering faith would be passed on to her daughter-in-law, whose brother was sitting **next **to him.

Unfortunately, the person sitting in** front** of him didn't take this eye-smile as a reminiscing of past memories, but instead took it rather as something else.

"You know, Hokage-dono, that you and I can always make a political marriage to strengthen the bonds between Konoha and Kirigakure…." Mei hopefully asked.

"Um….. we don't need that…. Because there is peace in this land and thus we don't need any 'alliances'…." Kakashi stuttered with a pink face.

"Mmmm….. I am disappointed that we cannot forge such an agreement….. but good answer, given the light of current events that you would like to speak of…." The Mizukage said as she switched to a very serious stance. She had lost 10 Jonin during the Border Issue.

"Oh, and one more thing, before we start this meeting, Kazekage-dono, how did you find your little furball-of-energy of a nephew" smirked Kakashi.

Gaara smiled as he reminisced about the lovable young nephew he had so adored only a few hours before the meeting….

-Flashback-

"Uncle Gaara! Uncle Gaara!" screamed Minato as he ran toward his red-haired uncle.

"Minato… it's nice to see you!" said Gaara, who gave a rare smile almost exclusively for certain members of his family. Said little yellow furball-of-energy gave smiles to everybody who got the chance to meet the bundle of electricity.

As Gaara hugged the little blonde boy, a figure in a dark suit came along, with cat-like ears on his hood.

"Ummm….. Uncle Gaara….. why did you bring a clown here? I don't really like clowns. They don't make me laugh at all…. Actually… I'm quite scared of them…" whimpered Minato.

Naruto, and Temari (even Gaara a little bit!) laughed jovially as said cat-man Kankuro, who was controlling his temper not to chastise the boy, grudgingly said instead "Kid… I'm not a clown….. I'm your uncle Kankaro."

Minato's eyes widened. "My uncle wears makeup? I thought makeup only goes on fan-girls. At least that's what my daddy tells me"

-Flashback within a flashback-

"Mommy, I know this is kind of early to ask, but what's make-up? I hear a lot of girls wear it." Asked Minato after school.

"Oh, it's useless paint that fan-girls wear to attract guys." Temari replied.

"Mom, what's a fangirl?" Minato asked.

"They're useless kunoichi who are so fed up with their physical appearance and who don't care about being a ninja and protecting their loved ones but rather only care about attracting boys." Temari replied.

"And that's a kind of kunoichi WE don't want you to marry" said a voice in the door. In came Naruto with a tray with 3 cups of tea, which he set in the middle of the dinner table.

"Your Father's right, Minato" smiled Temari.

"Yeah for once, your mother's right" Naruto said. After all, we all know what came out of that "Ramen" episode, do we?" Naruto chided to Temari, who pouted.

-Flashback within a Flashback within a Flashback (Flashbackception!)

A very crumpled Naruto and bruised Minato laid in the village square.

"Well, what do you guys have to say for yourselves!" Temari said.

"Temari, maybe you should have some unhealthy food sometimes" Naruto said as he tossed her a candy bar.

Temari took a bite. And her heart stopped

_It tastes so good! _

_Wait, but it'll make me gain weight! What will Naruto think when he has a fat wife?_

Naruto seemed to be reading her mind. "Temari, I would still love you the same if you gained a few pounds, dattebayo!"

Temari grinned.

~2 weeks later~

"I think we went overboard with that…" Naruto said to Minato. They were at Ichiraku's, and Temari was on her 10th bowl.

"Yeah, at this rate, my mom'll grow…" Minato said, but Naruto clamped his mouth shut when said person's mother turned around, daring her son to continue.

Satisfied that he wouldn't say the f- word, Temari continued indulging in her barbecued pork miso ramen.

-End Flashback within a Flashback within a Flashback-

Yup, Temari had gained 10 pounds in that period. Which she lost and forced her household to once again go on a vegetable diet. But that didn't mean she went on a few splurges….

"Minato, when you want to marry a girl, marry someone like your mother. Your mother is a beautiful woman because unlike other kunoichi, she doesn't care about her physical appearance, even though she is already beautiful as she is…" said Naruto, who winked to his wife.

Said wife returned the wink. "And that is why I love you, you loveable baka of a husband." Temari said, which Naruto pouted to.

Naruto continued. "Instead, she cares about what REALLY matters. A good kunoichi is responsible, and ready to take action when needed. They are happy, cheerful, and with little worry, but are serious when the situation needs them to be. They are hard working on their goals and in serving and protecting those precious to them. They are bold, never afraid to speak their mind when the situation calls for it. They are also very wise..." Naruto grinned to Temari, who returned the smile. "They are kind to others, yet have rigidity when those others oppose those they love. They are brave, strong, and confident, always being bold warriors to protect their families and children when they need to. They are faithful to who they love and their husbands, and give them a good name for being acquainted with them. Minato, your mother is a perfect embodiment of that, which is why I love her."

Temari didn't know what to say. She hugged her husband. "And I can say the same things to you…. well, most of them, really. I don't know about the wise part…." She giggled as Naruto's face fell like that of a little child.

"Thanks, Dad. Thanks… Mom" said Minato.

-End Flashback within a Flashback-

Gaara, Naruto, and Temari all stifled high-pitched giggles at Minato's innocence of Kankuro's pet peeve – being called a cross-dresser who wears make-up while playing with dolls (his "war puppets", he so claims). Unfortunately for Minato, he would make that one extra step that would make his uncle erupt in insult and anger….

Kankuro reddened as Minato unwittingly insulted him right under his nose. "No kid… this ain't make-up…. It's war-paint… a young shinobi should know that by now, as young as you are…."

Minato replied, "Wait, so you're a shinobi?" At this, Gaara, Naruto, and Temari couldn't help themselves but laugh outright at Minato's cute innocence. Kankaro turned even redder than Naruto when he got his "righteous beating" from his "righteously-angry" wife.

"Of course I am…. you ESPECIALLY should know that by now, kid…."

"Wait…. If you're a shinobi, what kind of weapons do you use?" asked Minato.

"War puppets." Kankaro replied as he set down the puppet that looked like an effigy of Sasori the Puppeteer.

"Oh… THAT'S a war puppet…" said Minato in his cute innocent way that made Naruto, Gaara, and Temari all smile at his cuteness. "But it looks like a really huge oversized doll of a cute guy! Only girls play with stuff like that! Especially fangirls who have **no** chance of getting such guys as their husbands…." Minato said.

Naruto, Temari, and Gaara all thought it at the same time. _"Oh, crap"_.

"Wait, so what kind of shinobi are you? A shinobi that wears stuff that looks like girls make-up, dresses up in a cat dress, and plays with super big male dolls? Are you a fangirl dressed up like a cat? That would make sense, since daddy told me that fangirls love cats and dolls looking like guys they would love to marry. He also told me that they want to look good to such guys by wearing make-up. Wait, but if you're my uncle, you're a guy, aren't you? Why are you trying to attract other guys? Aren't all guys that want to attract other guys called… wait, I forgot, oh yeah now I remember – aren't they called cross-dressers?" Minato innocently asked, ignorant of the implications of what he said.

With that said, Naruto, Temari, and Gaara burst in laughter and literally started to roll on the floor. Kankaro finally lost his temper.

"Why you….. little…." Kankaro started to draw out his puppet to teach his ignorant nephew a lesson, until he was bonked on the head with a metal fan.

"Touch our son…. little cross-dressing clown in a cat-costume…. And you will suffer the consequences…" sweetly said Temari with a smile.

"Likewise….. after all, why else would you have those large dolls of yours?" sarcastically said Naruto as he laughed.

Gaara laughed. "Good job Minato! You've finally learned a dirty little secret of our family!"

Kankaro was so embarrassed by this time that he literally ran out of the room, with his hands over his hood, vowing to get back on a red-haired raccoon, a 4 pig-tailed fiery wind mistress, and a foxy blonde male.

"Wait, Mom, Dad, he's putting his ears on his hat down – does that mean Uncle Cat is sad? I wanna go help him!" cried Minato as tears of sympathy went down on his face.

Temari, Naruto, and Gaara laughed and were awed by their nephew and son's cuteness.

-Flashback End-

Unfortunately, Gaara realized that there was more to Minato than cuteness and perfect innocence – there was something else to him that could be a blessing or a curse for him…..

-Flashback-

Minato smiled happily as he ate his sweet dango dumplings at a dango stand while Gaara, Kankaro, Temari , and Naruto chatted away. Unfortunately for Minato, he had eaten too many Dango sticks, and the salt from the candies was beginning to make him very thirsty.

"Uncle Gaara, may I have a drink please" Minato politely asked.

"Oh, Minato, you're thirsty? Here, have a drink" Gaara said as the Kazekage bought a cup of hot green tea for the child. Temari smiled at her cute young son and his flawless manners she had instilled so painstakingly into the youngster. Gaara went back chatting away with his brother-in-law, sister, and "cat-suit" brother. When Gaara looked back at his young nephew, what he saw shocked him to the core.

Minato was now playing with a green cube inside the cup. Condensation of the very hot moisture that was originally there froze on the edges of the cup. The tea was no more – in its place stood an extremely large ice cube.

"What's wrong, Gaara? What did Minato do now?" asked Naruto with laughter at first, then outright concern. When Temari, Kankaro, and Naruto saw what had happened, they stared in shock at the spectacle.

_"Could it be!?" they all thought at once._

What they didn't notice was a ninja dressed in blue watching the spectacle, just as awed as the family in front of him at the Dango stand.

-Flashback End-

Gaara knew it. Yes, Minato had inherited the kekkei genkai of ice release. How this may have happened after the Yuki clan (Haku's clan) disappeared was a mystery…

-Flashback-

Later that night, Gaara decided to spend the night with his brother-in-law and sister. As Naruto and Temari tucked their son in, Minato asked "Mommy, Daddy, was something wrong with me back in the Dango stand?"

"No, Minato, you're fine…." Naruto said with a smile as Temari put the covers on him, and both exited Minato's bedroom.

In the living room sat Gaara on a coach. Naruto sat down on the couch with his hands on his face. Temari stood by, comforting him. The only thing on Naruto's mind was Haku – the very ninja that inspired him to live a life protecting those he loved. Haku had died a cruel and untimely death, and seeing Minato with Haku's gekkei kenkai brought back memories of the great ninja that inspired him to live a life of peace-making.

-Flashback within a Flashback-

"Strike me, Naruto."

Haku's words thundered through Naruto's ears. Even though Haku was an enemy that threatened the lives of the innocent bridge builder Tazuna, he couldn't bring himself to kill such a noble ninja.

"Naruto, sparing an enemy is not compassion. It is a betrayal of your friends' trust. And with that comes becoming scum."

"No, I WILL NOT kill you!" Naruto cried. "You may have hurt Sasuke-kun, but I will not kill someone for revenge. I will only kill to protect!"

"And besides, there are more and better ways to show your strength than by just killing people!" Naruto added.

Haku smiled. "When I met you in the forest, I knew that you and I were very alike in ideals…"

-Flashback within a Flashback End-

And with Haku's death, at Kakashi's unwilling hand, Naruto realized that Haku had been used as a tool, as a human shield, to protect his master, Zabuza. Even though it seemed that Haku had died a pointless death to die for a man that would not appreciate him for his efforts, Naruto realized that Haku died a happy death because he died for someone that may have not completely loved him for the boy he was, but one that he nevertheless loved (or believed in at least). With that, Naruto realized that true strength could only come through protecting those precious to you, rather than by revenge. But Naruto realized that all human life was important, that all shinobi were innocent – they were commanded by a corrupt ninja system that sought only to gain power for the few. They were sent on missions they did not want to be sent. They were sent to do things they did not want to do, such as killing women and children. And with this, Naruto realized how corrupt the ninja system was – it reflected upon a cycle of hatred and drive for power, along with corruption. And so would begin Naruto's quest to break this cylce of hatred – for all shinobi to work together, rather than serving the corrupt and power-hungry few. He dreamed of a world in which all shinobi could see to it that their loved ones were safe, without having to kill others/potential enemies to exercise that right. He believed in a shinobi world of non-violence, and peace and cooperation. And so Naruto went on this unseemingly unrealistic quest.

And was successful.

Unfortunately, for Naruto to see that ice release come back, it brought back many haunted memories of Haku's sacrifice for him to realize such peace, and for him to dream of a happy reality that would one-day be for all to enjoy. The peace was a reality at the moment, and without Haku's sacrifice, Naruto's dream to make that peace would never be catalyzed, and the peace would never come.

"Gaara, this is both amazing and scary at the same time. It's amazing that my son has inherited a gekkei kenkai thought to be extinct, but at the same time, despite the peace in our current world, I can't say that there will be people hunting him down for his DNA to recreate the gekkei kenkai and gain power over the other shinobi nations, especially someone like Orochimaru." said Naruto, who shuddered at the thought of the snake-man.

"How did it come to place anyway?" asked the Kazekage.

"The only explanation would be my lineage" said Naruto. "Both me and Temari-chan share very strong wind-affinities, in fact arguably the strongest wind-affinities in the entire 5 ninja nations. But my mother, Kushina, was a water type I believe. Temari and my wind affinities must have coincidentally mixed within Minato, along with Kushina's water type, into the heterozygous allele for ice release. After all, how could he get the water and wind chakras for such a chakra nature?"

"Well, I would suggest to keep quiet about it…" Gaara said. "If anyone finds out that my nephew posses a gekkei kenkai that was originally extinct, people will hunt him down, whether peace or not in this world, for the gene to gain domination over the other shinobi lands through this rare power."

"Agreed." Temari said.

-Flashback end-

"Gaara?" Kakashi asked.

"Oh sorry…" Gaara realized he had zoned out for nearly 30 seconds. "Minato is a very interesting, energetic, cheerful, persevering, hard-working, and hopeful child like his father. But he is sly, smart, alert, observant, and cunning as his mother…"

Kakashi noted Gaara's hesitance, and stored this in his mind for later.

"Let us begin our Summit!" Kakashi said.

There were no body guards in the room – ever since the peace started, nobody felt the need to protect their respective Kages,. The kages were more than manageable in protecting themselves form the likes of the random burglar or thief, and there were no serious enemies that would attack them.

"The first order of business is the sudden loss of many jonin in Fire Country's borders." Kakashi said. "Now, to prevent the misconception that we purposely killed your jonin off, we lost a substantial number of them too. We lost about 15 jonin in a month. IN addition, we have lost 3 chunin and 5 genin."

The kages' eyes widened. Certainly Konoha was not at fault In this matter. Why would it kill off their own talented ninjas?

"We have lost 12 jonin and 9 chunin" replied Ay.

"We have lost 9 jonin, 3 chunin, and 5 genin" replied Onoki.

"We have lost 10 jonin and 5 chunin" replied Mei.

"And we have lost 8 jonin and 5 genin" replied Gaara.

"I see…." Kakashi replied, "so there are no qualms against Konoha for this loss of ninja?"

"Agreed" all other kage replied.

"I will keep you all up-to-date on the situation" Kakashi said. "Anyhow, we now are at the second point of our business today – what shall we do about the Jonin exams?

"Well, I know one thing for certain" Gaara said " remind my **brother-in-law** to not foolishly avoid such an important event as such ever again."

Kakashi eye-smiled as he remembered how Naruto had ditched the Jonin Exams in favor of eating ramen at Ichiraku's. Much, of course, to the chargin of his wife.

"We'll host it here right in Konoha. All agree?" Kakashi said.

"Agreed!" the other Kage said.

"And **I** have some business of my own. Hokage-dono, why did you not tell me that you possessed the previously-extinct gekkei kenkai of ice release?" the MIzukage asked.

Ay and Onoki looked at Kakashi in shock.

Kakashi sat in confusion. Gaara gave him a dreaded look.

"I was not aware of such a thing….." Kakashi started.

"There is no need to worry…." Gaara said. "Hokage-dono will see to it that my nephew's chakra abilites will not be manipulated for the military strength of Konoha."

Kakashi's eyes widened at the revelation. He was truly caught in a rock –and-a-hard place. If the other countries thought that he was trying to hide the gekkei kenkai (if it even existed in his pupil's son), this could mean another war. However, if he revealed it, others would attempt to steal the boy for his abilities.

Mei, as if reading his mind, smiled. "There is no need to worry, Hokage-dono. I was just curious why you did not tell us. I was interested in taking on another apprentice, after all…. Why don't you show us this boy?"

Kakashi nodded. He summoned Naruto, Temari, and Minato at once.

-Namikaze Household-

"I TOLD YOU KID, STOP PLAYING WITH MY HOOD! THEY'RE NOT CAT EARS!" Kankaro yelled at his giggling nephew.

"But, Uncle Kankaro, they're so cute! I've always wanted a cat as a pet!"

Naruto and Temari couldn't help but laugh at this outright insult.

The doorbell rang. Naruto ran to open the door.

"Hokage-sama demands all of your presences at once" the stone-faced chunin explained.

-Summit Room-

Naruto, Temari, and Minato walked into the Summit Room. The Raikage, Tsuchikage, and Mizukage all widened their eyes. Gaara just smirked.

_"The boy with the special abilities is the son of the 'Saviour of This World'?"_ they all thought at once.

"Mommy, who's that really pretty lady there?" asked Minato with innocent big teal eyes.

The Mizukage laughed. So older men were not the only people to comment on her beauty. The little boy had already realized it at a young age! _What a smart boy indeed….. _thought the Mizukage as she thought of how by now she should have been already married.

Also in the room was the blue-clothed ninja who had seen the ice-release in action. He frowned at the boy's exclamation. "Excuse me, lad, but the person you are speaking to is the Mizukage. Please treat her with respect – "

"**Shut up, Ganryu, or I will kill you" **said the Mizukage with red eyes.

Said water-nin cringed in fear at the thought of the Mizukage gassing him to death in a room with sulfur toxins. _"She looks prettier when she is mad…" _thought Minato with a smile.

This did not go unnoticed by the Mizukage, who adored Minato's green orbs. She smiled. "Hokage-dono I will be more than happy to take this child as my apprentice".

Kakashi nodded. "Then, as a symbol of trust between nations, I entrust you that you will tend to young Minato's training, and in return we will trust you with the handling of the ice element. All that is left is for permission for Minato's parents to allow you to train him."

Naruto and Temari pondered on whether to entrust the Mizukage with their only beloved child, especially since he possessed a rare chakra element that could nevertheless be manipulated for the wrong motives, even in a time of peace. Then Naruto came up with a solution.

"Mizukage, there is no need for Minato to travel to the Water Country to train in his ice element. We will instead leave Hiraishin Kunai near your borders, where I will personally teleport him to and leave him to your care. At the end of the day, I will teleport back to the border and teleport us both back home. Is that a sound agreement?" asked the Kyuubi Jinchuriki.

The Mizukage smiled. "That sounds excellent. Thank you for your coordination and trust"


	3. Passing On the Arts

BTW: I don't own Naruto. Only Kishimoto owns it.

Chapter 3

-4 years later-

8 year-old Minato Uzumaki walked across the hill facing water country. On his back was a Tessen that his mother Temari had personally ordered from Sunagakure, from the very same weapon craftsman that had created her Tessen. On the side strapped to his right was a sword personally crafted and given by Ganryu, the Mizukage's bodyguard in Water Country. And on his left was a pouch full of Hiraishin kunai that although he did not yet learn to teleport to, he could use proficiently in close-quarters combat.

Even though it was a time of peace, and war was no longer in anybody's dictionary, people still kept careful guard of their shinobi skills. One must protect him or herself, be it peace or not in the world, because unexpected dangers could come at any random moment. Minato was no exception….

Temari and Naruto, both wind-style jutsu technique masters themselves, had personally seen to young Minato's wind-style chakra training. Temari had taught the young boy much of what she knew in wind-style based attacks with the fan. Naruto also pitched in to help his son with his wind-chakra training. Minato enjoyed the playful arguments between his mother and father about who was the stronger wind-user between the two. Often times, both would ask their son who he thought was the stronger at wind-techniques, to which Minato would always innocently answer that his mother was the better, as he had a very cute and affectionate tendency to stick with his mother, much to the triumphant glee of his mother and much to the gloomy defeat and groaning of his father. Minato had difficulty with his chakra control, but with the teaching of the Shadow Clone Jutsu and the large chakra reserves he inherited form his father, he was making considerable progress. Quite not on the prodigal level, but nevertheless respectable in its own right. Naruto had gone ahead to teach Minato beforementioned jutsu, the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and even got to teach him the Rasengan. Of course, he had to use the usual training wheels to create the ball of death (shadow clones would shape the ball), and his form of it was **much much smaller than his father's**, but nevertheless Minato actually had quite an aptitude for it.

Minato smiled at the thought of wind-training. He had remembered a story of his grandmother's when she was young, and was brought to Konoha to be the future Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi.

-Flashback-

"Class, we have a new student today….. Her name is Kushina Uzumaki…. Please give Kushina a very warm welcome!"

Kushina, wanting to make a bold first impression, yelled at the top of her tomboyish voice "My Name is Kushina Uzumaki! And I will become the very first female Hokage! Dattebayo!"

Kushina clamped her hand over her mouth as she realized what she had done.

The class was stunned. Here came a foreign kunoichi from a far-away-land that God knows where and God knows what, who is boldly (and in their view, arrogantly) claiming to be their future ruler! So, they sorted her out to be the weird crowd. Plus, she had this red hair on her face that made her fat face look like a pudgy red tomato.

"Ha! Red hair! And that fat face! You look just like a tomato!" an unlucky classmate said.

-Outside the Academy-

Hiruzen Sarutobi was looking at his paperwork in revulsion.

_"Ugggh…. Paperwork"_ he thought

When he turned his head, however, a funny sight made him laugh outright.

A 9-year-old boy from the academy came crashing out of the window, screaming for mercy from the "Deathly Red-hot-Habanero". Out of the window flew a red-haired menace that would continue the pummeling in the deep forests **1000 yards** east of Konoha.

_"Sigh…. I wish this could have come sooner…." _Hiruzen thought as he watched the comical scene through the window. _"Oh well, I have like, 10 more years ahead of me at least to watch humorous things like this. But then again, I have 10 more years of boring, tall stacks of paperwork…."._

-End Flashback-

Minato had learned form his father that his grandfather Minato Namikaze, Kushina's husband and Naruto's father, also shared the dream of becoming Hokage. At first, Kushina didn't take Minato seriously. She viewed him so much of a "little girl". But when she was kidnapped by Kumogakure ninjas who desired the Kyuubi inside of her, and was saved by none other than her blonde hero, her view of him changed.

-Flashback-

7 bodies of unconscious Kumogakure ninjas laid thoughtlessly on the floor. Minato carried tired Kushina Uzumaki back to Konoha in his arms.

"Minato…. how did you know where I was…." Kushina asked dreamily.

"Because…. You're red hair is so beautiful….. and I couldn't stop but notice it and the trail that lead me to you…." said Minato happily.

Kushina's heart stopped. She turned away sadly. "But why didn't you try to get my attention earlier…"

"Because… I knew you were a strong kunoichi…. And that you could take it…." Said Minato with a smile.

-End Flashback-

So that was his grandmother's love story with his grandfather. It ended happily with both of them accomplishing their dream together. And yet he couldn't help but notice the similarities between that story and that between his mother and father. His mother, Temari, had wanted to become the strongest Wind-user. His father too, sought to do the same in developing his signature jutus, the Rasenshuriken, in order to fight his way through to make it to his friend and bring him back. Similarly, Minato shared the dream of Hokage with his wife Kushina for a similar reason that was just as noble as Naruto's reason for developing such a jutsu – to protect those he cared for and loved, just as Naruto cared for and loved Sasuke. Both had accomplished their dream together with Naruto leading the way with his signature attack, just as Minato and Kushina had accomplished their dream together with Minato leading the way in becoming Hokage. And then he realized how thankful he was for his parents' relationship – both of them had similar aims, dreams, and goals just like his grandparents, but also shared one thing that even his grandparents couldn't get, and that was understanding of each other's great pains – being a person ostracized **with** a Jinchuriki (Uncle Gaara) and being ostracized as Jinchuriki himself (Naruto), respectively. This combination of sharing understanding of each others pains and sharing similar goals and dreams in life truly united his parents into a relationship that seemed unbreakable and everlasting. So wind was not only a strongpoint in Minato's abilities, but also a personal one. Then again, he had another strongpoint that was not as personal as it was awkward to learn….

Minato had also gotten quite proficient with taijutsu. With the help of a bowl-hair cut look-alike, he had gotten quite proficient in the field whenever his master **did not ** get drunk. But whenever said master's son would come along and scream with his father about the values of "young life" and "youth power", Minato would leave, his tail caught between his legs as he walked away from a house that Gai would say had perfect "youthful energy".

And with being proficient at taijutsu, Minato could try to perfect Kenjutsu. Ganryu had taken on Minato as a sort of apprentice after the Mizukage's sessions with the youngster. Ganryu was pleased by Minato's decent progress, and claimed that if Minato tried hard, he could definitely gain serious swordsman skills.

But perhaps what improved most of all was Minato's ability to use his ice release. Using the advanced water training methods from the Mizukage herself, he was able to drastically improve his ice-ability. The Mizukage admitted that she did not have the kekkei genkai herself, and could not directly help him in that area. However, Minato was able to put two-and-two together – using the advanced wind techniques he learned from his mother, the vast chakra reserves and stamina he inherited form his father, and the advanced water techniques of the Mizukage, he was able to effectively combined water and wind well enough to create strong ice attacks.

That being said, Minato had to keep his ice release a secret. Men like Orochimaru would love to gain that gekkei kenkai for themselves. But with two pairs of eyes, one cerulean blue and another teal, rapidly and alertly hovering over wherever he was, it was certain that **nobody **would dare touch their son, be it for ability or not. Minato shuddered at the memory of a thief who tried to steal money from him when he went out to buy his parents groceries at a store while on an errand.

-Flashback-

"Kid, give me them coins!" yelled the thief as he tried to pull away the wallet 7-year old Minato carried in his small palms.

"MOOOM! DAAAADDDD! HELP ME!" cried young Minato.

Two blurs in the sky appeared, one faintly black-and-red, another yellow-and-orange. The black-and-red blur knocked the thief senseless on his back, while the yellow-and-orange one landed next to his son.

"Minato, are you okay? Who tried to hurt you this time…." Naruto asked.

"HIM!" Minato cried. "The mean man tried to hurt me and take my money when I went to go buy food!"

Said thief gulped as the "Scorching Sun of the Desert" and the "Orange Future Hokage of Konoha" turned around with a harsh glare.

Temari slowly pulled out her fan and uncoupled its bindings, opening it to its full 3 meter radius. Naruto cheerfully pulled out a Hiraishin while making a Rasengan in his other hand.

"I think it's time that you paid for what you did to our son…." cheerfully said the wind mistress.

"Gladly…." said her husband, the orange wind prince of Konoha.

-End Flashback-

At the end of the "reprimanding" of his parents, the thief had broken 6 ribs, broke both of his legs, and landed 100 feet away from Minato with a single swipe from Temari's _Wind Scythe_.

-Flashback-

"Honey…. My Pretty Little Desert Lily…. remind me NOT to get you angry with me ever again…" said Naruto with a shudder as he looked upon how far the thief had flown away with a single swipe of Temari's metal fan. Minato looked at his mother's metal contraption in equal extreme caution and fear.

Temari broke into a large grin and giggled.

-End Flashback-

Minato shook that thought of revulsion away as he continued on his hike to Ganryu's dojo.

-Inside the Dojo-

Minato walked calmly in and was greeted by an uppercut slash from Ganryu…..

….. which he barely in the nick of time was able t counter with a donwward slash.

"… Excellent job Minato…. remember….a shinobi is always observant of their surroundings…."

"Yes, Ganryu-sensei." Minato replied.

"At ease, Minato. Now, young Minato, there isn't too much else I can teach you in terms of basic swordsman skills. So let's try something different. You are relatively skilled in using ninjutsu, specifically ice-based ninjutsu, your specialty, are you not?" said Ganryu.

"Hai, Ganryu-sensei" said Minato.

"And you are acquainted with the skill of kenjutsu, are you not…" Ganryu added.

"Hai, Ganryu-sensei" said Minato.

"Well, this is just a theory, but it is time that you try to combine the two into a single attack." Said Ganryu. "We Kirigakure-nin combine water attacks with our sword slices to augment the concussive damage of the sword blows. Now, if you fused your ice release with your sword blows, you would get the best of both worlds of wind and water attacks, along with deadly coordination in swordplay – the penetrating and cutting nature of wind in the ice along with the concussive power of the water in the ice, as ice contains the ability to be both penetrating **and** concussive at the same time. So, try to flow your ice chakra through the blade!" said Ganryu.

Minato picked his blade up and focused his chakra through it. A faint amount of ice appeared on the surface, then more condensation surrounding the blade froze onto the metal.

"Remember, Minato, remember the chakra=control exercises we taught you. Not too much chakra, not too little" warned Ganryu.

_"This is WAY too hard….. wait, I think I have an idea!" _thought Minato.

-Flashback-

"So, son, you know the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Said Naruto.

"Hai, Tou-san." Said Minato.

"Then you should already know by now that you possess the greatest training tool available for shinobi! Especially given the large chakra reserves you and I have!" cheerfully said Naruto.

_What does he mean?_ Minato thought. Then it hit him.

_"I remembered that whenever my shadow clones "died", their memories would always come back…."_

-End Flashback-

With that afterthought, Minato rose his hands to a cross seal and created 7 clones.

Ganryu nodded, knowing what he was about to do. _"Indeed, he takes after his father in vigor and motivation. But he also seems to have inherited his mother's wit and wisdom…." _Thought Ganryu with a smile. He had known Naruto for some time, ever since Naruto had gotten him to **not** get revenge for his fallen comrades to the Stone village. He had just met Naruto's wife Temari. But he knew deep down that their personalities were mixing within their son. He smiled at the coincidence of dispositions, and turned around…

And was shocked by what he saw.

Minato's sword was now shining, gem-like blade, freshly minted in moisture. Minato took a swing at the target dummy in the middle of the dojo, only for it to be blown completely in half by the concussive and penetrating nature of the ice-chakra flow in the sword.

_"The boy has gotten so far…"_ Ganryu thought, as he was awed that an 8 year-old boy could master a jonin technique like that. _"Minato, what in the world will you become?"_.


	4. Rock and a Hard Place Both Ways

Chapter 4

Kakashi sighed as he read the paper on his desk. More and more ninja were reported missing on the Fire Country borders. It had already been 4 years ever since the incident. If things continued, who knew how many ninjas they would lose in the ending?

The door opened. Naruto and Temari walked In, dressed in their respective ninja uniforms and both donning the headband of Konohagakure, with Temari having her Sunagakure headband on her left bicep as a symbolism that she belonged to two villages, her home in the Sand and her new home in the Leaf. Both formed a single unit within Konoha that had to be yet defeated in battle. They were tied with Sasuke and Sakura's team for having the highest stats in battle.

"Hokage-sama, request for our next mission…" requested Naruto.

Kakashi sighed. "Naruto, just call me Kakashi…" _"Temari has definitely made him too polite…" _he thought. Anyhow, in terms of missions, I do have a S-rank mission available. Since you two are the highest ranked in the ninja stat book for ninjas and kunoichi, I was planning on sending you two."

"It's been a very long time since we were offered S-Rank missions…." Replied Temari with a smirk.

"Unfortunately…" Kakashi said. "If you accept this mission, you cannot back out. It is a very dangerous mission, and I have very few candidates that are suitable for it. Do you both agree?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama" they both replied.

"Seriously, you both can call me Kakashi" signed Kakashi. Anyhow, both of your missions include checking out the Fire Country Borders on a reconnaissance mission. Destroy any enemies that may stand in your way, find EXACTLY what the heck is going on there, and report back IMMEDIATELY".

Naruto bit his lip in a little worry. _"So many talented ninjas were lost there…." _He thought. _"Survival is definitely not a guarantee. And I wouldn't want to lose….." _he looked at his wife.

Temari had similar thoughts. She looked toward her husband, with a rare sense of worry on her face as she bit her lips. Temari was never scared by anything, and the fact that she was very well afraid meant something bad for both of them….

"Yes, I know what you both are thinking. I would hate to send the future Hokage of Konoha on a suicide mission, nor would I like to kill the future First Lady in the same manner. Unfortunately, you two are two of the **very very** few candidates I have that I can legally send on this mission while meeting the stat-book requirement. The stat-book requires me to send ninjas above the effective combat level of 31. The only other team I can think of sending is Sasuke and Sakura's team, but they are already on a mission in Kumogakure. I was thinking of sending Neji and Ten-Ten's team, as if I promote both of their stat-book values, I could barely but nevertheless legally send them in. Unfortunately, promoting them is a tedious process that must go through the council for days, even weeks at times, and this is a time where I **don't** want to be wasting time. Many ninjas are disappearing in the border, and I need to get to the **bottom** of this."

"Hai, Kakashi-sama" replied both Temari and Naruto.

"Pack your bags. You all leave in 3 hours." Replied the Hokage.

With a nod, husband and wife turned around to exit the door, fear, worry, and apprehension evident on their faces.

As they left the door of the Hokage Tower, it started to ominously rain.

-Namikaze Household-

Gaara awaited his sister and brother-in-law in the living room. Kankaro was fixing his puppets in the corner of said room, while Minato was busy playing with a few raindrops he had so joyfully frozen on his way back home form the academy.

The door opened, and in came Naruto and Temari.

"So, I assume that you both will be sent near Konoha's borders shortly?" the Kazekage asked.

The couple nodded their heads solemnly and dreadfulness. Kankaro looked down, fearing for his sister and annoying, but nevertheless warm and kind brother-in-law. Minato looked at his parents in utter confusion.

"Mommy…. Daddy…. Is something wrong?" the boy asked.

Temari and Naruto looked at their child with torn expressions. They didn't want to get their child worried about his parents just yet, nor did they want to lie to him in case something **did** go wrong.

"Son, your Mommy and I will be going on a pretty long mission. WE will leave you at a friend's house when we are gone." Naruto said.

"Mommy…. Daddy…. Will you both be OK? Will you both come back to me?" asked Minato with fearful and innocent teal eyes.

Naruto and Temari looked at their son in slight pain. There were no promises that they could see their young child again. But both decided to take the risk and leave the sun and the heavens shining above their child.

"Don't worry, Minato…. after all, your Daddy **is "**The Yellow Flash"'s son. He's very strong… and don't **ever** forget that the 'Yellow Scorching Sun of the Sand' is your mother" said Temari with a grin. Naruto rolled his eyes at his wife's fearsome moniker. Women frowned at the thought of such a fearsome and headstrong kunoichi, while men shuddered at the thought of a feminine menace. Gaara, Minato, and Kankaro laughed at Naruto's response and pout.

"Right, and as for your babysitter… you're going to have Uncle Rock Lee take care of you while we're gone!" said Naruto with a sneer.

_"Oh, no….."_ thought Minato.

-Flashback-

"More, Minato, more! Make you head reach all the way to the floor! MORE!" yelled Maito Gai on his wheelchair as he forced Minato to drop to his 500th pushup.

Minato groaned. Here a very "youthful" trainer was attempting to make him do what he so cheerfully called "small steps to ultimate youthful energy….."

"Yes, young Minato! Do not let those flames of youth within you die so easily!" cried Uncle Rock Lee.

"Come on man! Keep up those fires of youth! Yosh!" screamed Rock Lee's son.

Minato sighed.

"Yes, that is the spirit, Saito!" cried Lee to his son. "Now, to not let those flames of youth within you go to waste, go run 500 laps around the Konoha Square!"

_'Konoha Square? That's at least a quarter of a mile….." _Minato thought as he shuddered at the thought of the bowl-hair cut taijutsu specialist and his "very youthful devotion exercises".

"Yosh, Tou-san!" screamed Saito. "If I do not run 500 laps around the square in 1 hour, I will do 500 head-stand pushups! If I cannot do 500 head-stand pushups, I will do 500 leg curls! If I cannot do that, I will…."

"….Yosh! So much youthful energy in this new generation!" yelled Rock Lee.

"…Ah, the power of Youth! Such glory and splendor in our new generation of Youth!" yelled Gai on his wheelchair…"

Minato couldn't remember the rest of that evening. All he remembered was coming home, sitting in the corner of the shower, turning on the water, and being downcast for the rest of the evening….

-End Flashback-

_"I am SO not going through that hell ever again…." _vowed Minato.

"Well, **son**, get ready to go to your **favorite** babysitter in, like, 1 hour…." Naruto cheerfully said. He snickered at his son's antics and revulsion of the bowl-haircut jonin. _"That's for the ramen episode…. And the popcorn one, too…." _Naruto vengefully thought.


	5. The Great Escape!

Chapter 5: The Great Escape!

-Lee's House-

Minato struggled in the ropes around him as he attempted to escape from Rock Lee's living room couch. Rock Lee laid on his back to the living room wall, smiling.

"Get me out of here!" cried Minato.

"Minato-kun, I have tied you in maidens' hair, with a shinobi reverse-butterfly knot. There is no way you're getting out of here. After all, this is what your father wanted, did he not?" smirked Lee.

Minato sighed. "Why is it always you stupid bowl-haircutted people that always ruin my life for me every single day?" cried Minato.

"Silence! How dare you make fun of my Tou-san's flames of youth!" said Saito with fiery and indignant conviction in his eyes.

"Not to worry, Saito-sono! My flames of youth can **never** be extinguished, not even by the **icy **and **cold-hearted** presence of our** Minato-kun** here!" cheerfully said Lee.

_"Oh, the irony…." _thought Minato. _"I wish I could freeze their __**stupid**__ flames_ _of youth right this instant…." _Minato pondered. Then he suddenly had an idea.

"Lee-Oji, didn't they have a hot curry festival in Konoha Square today?" asked Minato.

Rock Lee stopped dead in his path as he tried to celebrate with his "flames of youth".

"Saito-sono….. _is_ that true?" asked Lee with hope.

Saito checked the calender in front of the Lee's refrigerator. "… Hai, Tou-san…" Saito quietly said as both father and son's eyes gleamed at the thought of eating such "youthful snacks for life"….

"Saito-sono, what are we waiting for? We have Flames of Youth we must reignite in our stomachs!" cried Lee.

"YOSH, TOU-SAN!" cried Saito in total agreement. "LET US RECHARGE OUR VERY YOUTHFUL-ENERGIES!".

"THAT'S THE SPIRIT, SAITO-SONO! LET US DEPART TO THE LAND OF SPICE, YOUTH, AND FIRE!" Lee cried as father and son dashed out to consume the alcoholic spicy curry that they so craved…

Minato sighed. At least that would get them off of his tail as he did his bidding…

-Namikaze Household-

Naruto sighed."Do you think Minato will be O.K in Uncle Lee's House?" he asked his wife.

"He'll be O.K, as long as Lee and his doesn't have any liquor around him…" Temari shuddered at the thought of what kinds of things they would do should they get the toxins mixed with their "hot-blooded souls"…

"Oh, you mean like at our wedding?" Naruto asked.

Temari nodded in revulsion at the thought.

-Flashback-

With Naruto Uzumaki and Temari Sabuka becoming husband and bride, the two sat at the wedding reception as friends and Temari's family came to celebrate the happy union of such a loving and happy couple that deeply cared for each other. Now that the proceedings were over, it was time for a toast to a happy marriage.

Gaara led the ceremony. He lifted his cup of sake. "I wish my bestest of friends, Naruto Uzumaki, who led me out of the darkness of loneliness, sorrow, pain, and self-pity, to the light of friendship, love, compassion, kindness and the true strength of loyalty, to find happiness in his bride, my sister Temari, and in her heart that took such pain to love a lost child like I in the same way as Naruto loved me. I wish my sister Temari to likewise find happiness in my fellow friend's large and warm heart that loved me so, even self-sacrificing himself to see to it that I could have the privilege and gift of being happy, a privilege and gift I did not deserve and that I didn't even see the true and complete value of. Oh, what hearts that can exist so strong and true, that could turn hatred directed toward it from a man as evil as I was, into a strong love no one can comprehend! These hearts exist within these two people her at the reception table, both hearts that turned a look of hatred from an evil man as I was, into a love that seemed to know no bounds. Let both, my sister and my best-friend, see the beauties of each other's hearts, and take joy and happiness in one another for the rest of their lives! Let them join their dreams together, and accomplish them with each other. Let them work together with their hearts of goodness, and take joy in one another as they work together to accomplish what they dream of together! Let their noble hearts be one, let their wills be one, so that they may do so much more extraordinary good than the rich goodness they individually were already doing! May they have few downs, and many ups in their course of life together. With that, let us toast to their very happy marriage!" he said.

"Hai!" all the guests at the reception said at once.

All of the guests at the wedding reception drank their sake and were satisfied.

But one guest's cheeks turned deep red as the strong liquor flowed down his throat. His arms began to assemble a drunken fist stance as he slowly but surely rose his face to reveal his drunken eyes. Everyone turned their faces in surprise to his sudden change of stature.

"MORE ALCOHOL! MUST HAVE MORE! MORE FLAMES OF YOUTH SHALL RUN DOWN MY THROAT!" yelled the green Jonin as he ran around, pummeling random guests, chopping random patrons in the back of the neck, kicking random maids and servants at the reception in the shins, smacking random Jonin senseis in the face with the end of his now shattered sake bottle, grabbing tables and throwing them at circles of unlucky Genin, and smacking the living daylights out of the Chunin-messengers present at the ceremony with the heavy wooden chairs.

"Lee, STOP! PLEASE!" begged Naruto.

"YOSH, Naruto-kun, it is time to celebrate your joining of flames of youth with that Desert Lily of yours! Let us ready your spirit for such a very YOUTHFUL bond!" cried Rock Lee as he readied his heel for a **very **vicious uppercut.

_"Oh, no, not that one!" _Naruto screamed mentally.

With that, Rock Lee turned around, pulled his leg back towards himself like a compressed coil about to spring, and released the pressure into a heel straight-first into Naruto's chin.

"Leaf Hurricane!"

-Flashback End-

Naruto chuckled at that thought. "Oh, you mean that time when Rock Lee kicked me 200 feet into the air, and when Sasuke had to use his Susanoo to save me from falling to my death?".

Temari couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably at the thought of her husband's misfortune on the happiest day of their lives.

"Yeah, that day the village had to call in like, 50 Anbu to restrain him. Even then, he kept on kicking while calling out for more "Liquid Flames of Youth" for himself…".

"Yeah, Rock Lee had better not be drinking again…. God knows what kinds of things he can do when he's intoxicated…."

-Town Square-

Rock Lee and his son Saito were busily eating their alcoholic curries, both of their faces turning an even more intense hue of red with every bite. Suddenly, Rock Lee sneezed boisterously.

"What's wrong, Tou-san?" asked Saito.

"Oh, nothing Saito-sono… it's just this curry tastes so YOUTHFUL to me!" cried the "Green Monster of Konoha".

"Tou-san, I think someone has boldly stated you to be a very YOUTHFUL person with a very YOUTHFUL appetite! After all, why else would you sneeze so modestly at such an honest compliment?" asked Saito with a great conviction in his heart.

"INDEED, SAITO-SONO! THE MOST YOUTHFUL IS YET TO COME!" cried Rock Lee with an equally insane conviction.

"TOU-SAN!"

"SONO!"

"TOU-SAN!"

"SONO!"

"TOU-SAN!"

"SONO!"

What the very **youthful** father-and-son duo failed to notice, however, were the number of civilians evacuating the area from what was thought to be a "very horrid Genjutsu" placed by some enemy shinobi attacking the leaf village, equally horrified Anbu alerting the Hokage that some rogue force was invading the Leaf Village with some kind of "unbreakable Genjutsu", task-force Genjutsu specialists attempting to break said Genjutsu with no avail, and the Hokage himself, with Sharingan primed, ready to defeat the Genjutsu that could so threaten the Leaf Village in the way the Anbu described with his trusty Dojutsu. Unfortunately, not even the strongest Dojutsu, the Mangekyo Sharingan of his, could break the petrifying Genjutsu as Kakashi himself was paralyzed from head-to-toe from observing such a scarring eye-sore.

-Rock Lee's House-

When Minato heard the girl-like screams from outside as ninjas, kunoichi, men, women, the elderly, the children, and even the Hokage were all caught in the terrible Genjutsu that made even the Tsukinome of the Fourth Shinobi World War pale in comparison, he grinned and set out to work. Minato used his ice chakra to freeze the very ropes binding to his wrists, fingers, palms, and forearms as the ice expanded the maiden's hair. The good news was that even though Maiden's hair itself was unbreakable, when sown together, it left many gaps in between the threads. With the ice expanding out the hairs, the hairs were no longer woven together, freeing our blonde protagonist from their tight grasp. With that done, Minato bashed the knot on the chair he was tied to, and it broke into many crystal fragments, allowing him to free himself from the House of Inner Youth.

-Namikaze Household-

"Temari-hime…" Naruto looked at his wife with fearful eyes.

Temari grinned. She loved it whenever her husband called her by that affectionate and personal name he had given her. But when she caught sight of her husband's concerned eyes, she frowned in bewilderment.

"Temari-hime… in case we don't make it back… I just wanted to tell you that I love you so much…"

"Shut up, we will make it back, you baka!" snapped Temari, then both looked at each other's eyes and frowned. Both knew that it wasn't necessarily the truth. Temari's bluntness to speak her will wouldn't help them this time. They knew the facts. They knew how likely it was for them to die, as so many gifted shinobi had perished in the forests of Konoha's borders.

Temari looked down sadly. "If that's the case…. the best…. we can do…. for our… son…" the wind mistress said, then her voice trailed off.

Naruto nodded, knowing just exactly what she had in mind. With that, he lifted his left arm, opened a seal on his wrist, and summoned a piece of paper…

-Rock Lee's House-

Minato created a shadow clone, then henged it to match his appearance when he was tied up to the chair. Careful training with his sharp and intelligent mother had taught him to be aware of his surroundings. This was no exception, as during the entire time he had distracted Lee and his son Saito while they were in the house, he had carefully observed the chair he was sitting on, even the reverse-butterfly knot that so restrained him. He made his Shadow Clone henge into the same exact position as he was in when he was restrained to the chair. He then created another Shadow Clone, making it henge instead into a Reverse-Butterfly Knot that looked virtually the same as the original copy to the barest millimeter. He tied the clone on the chair to the seat with the synthetic Reverse-Butterfly Knot, then made a break out of that prison.

-Namikaze Household-

Naruto put down the paper and ink feather. He motioned for his wife to come over, stood up, and let his wife continue where he left off…

-Konoha Streets-

Minato rushed through the streets. Having Rock Lee and his son Saito act as a diversion in the form of that terrible Genjutsu was a splendid part of his mastermind plan. It was no luck that such an atrocious sight would keep the streets clean of anyone who would suspect Minato of doing something secretly – he had planned this meticulously all along, while he was sitting on the chair of the Lees' household and tuning out their cries of "Youthful Power". Living with his mother had taught him the intelligence he know had to conjure such a complex and genius plan; living with his father had taught him the perseverance and determination to do his best to escape from the "Energy Prison".

Minato was not stupid. Being taught by his mother, he knew when to trust one's words and when not to. That was a basic yet crucial Shinobi skill all ninjas had to truly know. And yet, his mother ironically had been ignorant of that, and thus had given away so many clues to her son that her son could flip through like a book and extrapolate the meaning to the nearest degree. He knew that his parents were going to be in serious danger. All he had to do was look at his parents' worried and concerned faces when they were ignorant of his presence, and he knew that they were going to a life-threatening situation.

_"If Mommy and Daddy are going to play dumb, so may it be. But I'm not letting them go without a fight…literally…" _ Minato thought as he made up his resolve and raced back to his home.

-Namikaze Household-

Temari put down the paper and ink feather. She put the ink feather back to the ink-jar and nodded to her husband, who nodded back and took the paper, inserting it into a petite envelope. He grabbed a pen and wrote a single name on the miniature package…

-Outside the Namikaze Household-

Minato screeched around the neighbor's house, then sprinted up his house's front yard and hid behind a tree. Living with his father had taught him how to be the ultimate prankster, just like his goofy counterpart. However, unlike his father, he had used such stealthy skills for more mature reasons….

-Namikaze Household-

Naruto packed 50 **boxes** of instant ramen into a scroll, and sealed it away. This did not go unnoticed by his wife.

"Normally, I would kill you for packing such blatantly unhealthy food, honey, but seeing our current situation… I think I'll let you off…" smiled Temari, to which Naruto gave a small chuckle, before both looked at each other again and sighed in apprehension, wondering if their love on the Earth would last…

-Namikaze Household Front Porch-

Minato, using his supreme sneaking skills he had picked up from the Ex-"Ultimate-prankster", his own father, sneaked his way effortlessly to the front door of his house. Using the door breaching techniques his prankster of a father had used to sneak on unlucky civilians of Konoha during Naruto's childhood, he saw that nobody was directly behind the front door, and carefully turned it open and walked quietly in…

-Namikaze Household-

"Honey, I'm going to go to my room to pack my clothes into my scrolls," Naruto said.

Temari nodded. "I am going to go to the bathroom to get our sanitary supplies" the wind mistress said.

Both husband and wife nodded, before turning to get their respective supplies, never completely getting the possibility of losing each other out of their heads…

-Namikaze Household (Living Room)-

Minato sneaked into the living room. _"I need to pick one of the scrolls of my parents to hide myself in…. but assuming that Fire Country's borders are a few day's journey from here… I'm probably going to need some food in my respective seal…" _Minato thought. Then he saw his father's scroll that he had so dedicated to his one and only favorite food, and grinned.

_"Kill three birds with one stone, heh? First I get food as I travel with my parents to their destination as they remain ignorant of my presence. Second, I get to experience the coolness of a life of a S-ranked ninja. Thirdly and finally, I get to eat my favorite food that my Mommy pretty much never lets me eat!"_ Minato thought with much glee at the third thought. He couldn't wait to enjoy a feast of his favorite food – good ol' salty and oily instant cup of noodles ramen, barbecued pork flavored, just like the one at Ichiraku's….

With that final happy thought, Minato went to the kitchen, returned with 20 bottles of hot water in Thermos Bottles (there were a LOT of such bottles – he would **not** be the **first** one in the family to go on such an extensive mission with nothing but hot water with his ramen soup as his only ration…) walked back to the "ramen scroll", sealed himself into the papyrus of love, and prepared himself for a **very** tasty treat…


	6. Snakes on a Plane

Chapter 6

-Konoha Front Gate-

Kakashi Hatake stood near the front gate, saying farewell to his favorite pupil and said pupil's wife as they embarked on what could perhaps be the most difficult S-ranked mission yet.

"Keep in touch with me via messenger owl, ok?" asked the Hokage.

Naruto and Temari nodded, still nervous and apprehensive of what was yet to come.

With a final wave of goodbye to the Hokage, Naruto and Temari walked off towards the forest, where they would start their journey towards Konoha's borders.

-30 Min. Later-

Naruto and Temari jumped from tree branch to tree branch, side-by-side.

"Temari-hime, why do I feel like I left something behind…." Naruto said.

"Or maybe you brought something you didn't need" teased his wife.

Naruto pouted, for both knew that he was quite scatterbrained when it came to preparing for a **long **trip.

-Inside the Ramen Scroll-

Minato was enjoying his 20th bowl of instant ramen when suddenly he sneezed.

"Hmm…. Well, I'm wearing a long-sleeve coat over me right now, so I shouldn't be sick just yet…. Must have been 'cause my parents were **really** worried about leaving me behind **alone**" Minato thought with a slight sneer at the last thought. They would be in for a **very **nice surprise when they set up camp…

With that mischievous thought out of the way, Minato put down his now empty cup of noodles before moving on to the next flavor, Sea-Cucumber-and-Lobster flavored ramen.

-Back to Naruto and Temari-

"Yeah, maybe the 50 boxes of ramen was overdoing it…." said Naruto, shrugging his shoulders as he rested his hands on his head in his signature pose.

Temari giggled. "You silly, flashy orange prince of a husband… do you think you can eat **that** much in 3 days…" she jokingly remarked, but her voice then trailed off as she realized that that time frame could be even smaller that they reckoned….

This did not go unnoticed by Naruto. Reaching over to pat his wife on the shoulder, he fixated his cerulean orbs on Temari's teal eyes.

"Temari-hime… don't worry… as long as we are together… nothing can beat us!" Naruto cheerfully said.

Temari couldn't help but let a warm smile of assurance cross her face. She loved her husband's blue eyes - they looked like the ocean and all of its splendor of seashells, and they seemed to grant her some kind of warmth and comfort amidst the obstacles and trials of life whenever she looked at those sapphire jewels set on his charming, cheerful, and joyful face that seemed to never run itself with sadness, worry, or fear, but rather seemed to radiate boldness, bravery, strength, courage, perseverance, zeal, faith, and loyalty.

And Naruto couldn't help but focus in on the emerald gems that graced his wife's beautiful likeness. Whenever he watched those teal pearls, it reminded him that there was someone out there who shared his same vigor, his same perseverance, his same strength, his same desire to fight and protect those in this case, she, loved. Looking at those pearls brought his mind to a verdant landscape, where he alone had the privilege of laying down and sleeping in perfect security, where he could take comfort and repose in the heart of somebody who shared his same beautiful desire to battle those who opposed (her) loved ones and care for those precious people with all their hearts. And it was this meeting of the same desires that brought the cyan with the jade, that joined the two into an unstoppable team in all of Konoha's forces.

Unfortunately, the romantic time between the two was cut short, when Naruto noticed from the corner of his eye a dark shadow descending on them both.

Naruto and Temari jumped left and right, respectively, away from the hurtling form of an enormous purple snake. The snake coiled up from its grounded position and snarled at the two blonde wind-users.

"Orochimaru! I demand 300 more sacrifices for the unnecessary impact on my jaw!" Manda said as his jaw had a large dented bruise cause by the intense impact.

Naruto's Hiraishin kunai landed on a nearby tree, which Naruto then appeared above and landed gracefully on his toes. Not to be outdone, Temari _Wind-Shunshined_ her way to her husband's side as they both glared down at the ninja who had caused them so much misery for the past 13 years. Orochimaru had killed Temari's father, the Kazekage, and had made her home-village, against its own will, fight its ally the Leaf Village, Konoha, or else he threatened its villagers killed and the village itself sacked.

As for Naruto, he had invaded his home village (Konoha) with vile intent and killed his surrogate grandfather, the Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. But most of all, he had taken away his best friend, Sasuke Uchiha, for the first 3 years of his adolescence by giving him false lures of gaining power to kill his brother Itachi Uchiha, who had slaughtered their clan for nevertheless noble and righteous reasons. Initially, they had worked – Sasuke at first did not know that his brother killed their clan to protect the Leaf Village from a coup et' tat, and instead sought to kill him on the premises of revenge. However, by the time he got his revenge, he was a man with an empty character, with all of his goodness and potential of the heart sucked away. He had lost 3 valuable years with his best friend, Naruto Uzumaki, by this snake-freak! Naruto shook in anger at this thought, and focused his attention on removing this stench of a ninja from the Earth, a man who didn't deserve to be called a ninja! Despite the peace that all agreed to, this rebel of a man instead wickedly sought to fulfill his own self-desires for power – experimentation with genes to create the "perfect shinobi" that one day he would take over the body of and control like a new set of clothes. Sasuke had almost succumbed to that fate, and Naruto wished for no other friend to even come close to falling to such a fate. With that resolve in his heart, Naruto prepared his next attack with his fellow blonde wind-user to end the existence of such scum of the Earth.

"It's been a long time…. **Naruto-kun**" Orochimaru said.

"It has been… Orochimaru…. And there **won't** be a** next** time for us to say that **again**…" Naruto said, anger rising in his heart as he focused on ending the life of his constantly-reborn enemy forever.

"You killed my father! And you caused many deaths of my countrymen on Konoha's invasion! We won't let you get away with this again!" Temari angrily called to Orochimaru.

"Oh…. I wouldn't be too sure about that…. Temari-**chan**….." Orochimaru said. "After all, there is one more body for me to take over before I completely perish…. one that will give me the **ultimate** power…." Orochimaru said. "I'm afraid that that body…. That **boy**…. is related to you two somehow….."

Then realization hit Naruto and Temari.

"So…. **he's** the one you're really after…." Naruto said with a growl.

-Flashback-

(3 years ago)

-Namikaze Household Training Grounds-

"Minato, it's time that I told you about your special chakra. Have you ever felt the presence of a weird kind aurora in your chakra-molding exercises?" Naruto asked his 5 year-old son.

"Does it relate with the time when Uncle Gaara visited us before his Kage Summit, and I froze the tea he gave to me?"

Naruto was shocked by his son's intelligence. He surely took after his mother in the smarts department. Naruto nodded.

"Well, then, what's up with my chakra?" Minato asked.

"Minato, your mother and I share the strongest wind-affinities in all of the 5 Elemental Ninja Nations. So we thought that when you were born, that you would be solely a wind-type."

"But the thing was that your grandmother, and my mother, Kushina Uzumaki, was a water-type. When you were born, your mother and I had our **very strong** wind affinities mixed in within you, but you apparently inherited your grandmother's water-chakra by accident along with both of those **very strong** wind affinities. So when you were born, you inherited both **very strong **wind-affinities and **very strong **water-affinities."

"But the thing was, there was quite a rare occurrence. You're water chakra not only was inherited with your wind chakra, but it even completely mixed with it to form one chakra type : Ice Release".

"However, the thing is that despite your two different chakra affinities mixing into one, each individual one can be used individually without the other, meaning you actually have three **VERY STRONG** affinities: **water, wind, and ice**."

"What's so special about Ice Release?" asked Minato. "I mean, I can't imagine ice having any offensive qualities…."

"Are you kidding me?" Naruto said out loud. "Minato, Ice-Release was such a feared chakra-ability that the Yuki-clan, the clan of one of my friends who died a long time ago in battle, was massacred just for having it."

"The thing is, Minato, Ice-Release is the most coveted chakra ability because it is the only chakra element that **cannot** be countered by any other chakra ability."

"Really?" Minato asked. "I thought wind was the strongest chakra-element. That's what mommy always told me…."

"Well, your mommy is not always right…." Naruto said with a smirk. _"Revenge is sweet, eh Temari-hime?"_ he thought as he enjoyed every second of breaking Minato's over-sticking with his mother that stopped him from giving his father the attention he so deserved.

"Prove it!" Minato said with a huff as he crossed his arms in a disbelieving, doubtful, and pouting expression.

Naruto sighed. Couldn't fathers have their time with their sons?

"Alright, _Minato-kun_, let's end your doubts. Hold your hands in front of you and gather your chakra together."

Minato did as his father told him, with nonetheless a clearly doubtful expression on his face.

Naruto sighed. _"Momma's boy, eh? That'll never go…" _ he thought in somberness.

Naruto pulled his left hand out of his sleeve, and induced wind-chakra flow in the palm. He turned around toward a nearby tree.

"This, son, is the power of wind-chakra." With that said, Naruto focused his wind-chakra into a long-blade like entity, and slashed horizontally across the tree.

_"Wind Style: Chakra-Scalpel Slice!" _Naruto cried as he cut the tree.

At first, nothing happened. Then, a loud creak was heard as the tree's trunk slid off its base and crashed thunderously onto the ground.

_"Dang!"_ Minato thought. _"That was REALLY strong. I can't let an attack like that hit __**me**__!"_.

Naruto, as if reading his son's mind, grinned. "Minato, brace yourself…" and with that, swung around with the chakra scalpel aimed at his son's neck.

_"Wind Style: Chakra-Scalpel Slice!"_ Naruto cried out.

_"Dad! Are you trying to kill me!"_ Minato thought in fear. _"I haven't been __**that**__ bad of a boy… have I?" _ he thought as the chakra blade would close seconds onto his throat if he did not react. On an impulse, Minato brought his hands up to shield himself from his father's sharp chakra blade**….**

...and opened his eyes to see that his head had remained attached to his body. His eyes darted to his hands, wondering if he had retained the ability to live in exchange for the ability to hold chopsticks and eat ramen.

_"Oh no, that's even worse!"_ wailed Minato in his head.

Then his thoughts stopped as he looked in shock at his hands. In front of his palms was a large ice-shield almost as tall as himself. He looked at his father's hands and noted the hot dissipation of wind-chakra coming off – the chakra in his _Chakra-scalpel_ had completely died out. Then Minato looked back at the ice shield. There wasn't even a scratch.

"See, told ya' your mother's not always right…." Cheerfully said Naruto.

What father-and-son failed to realize, however, was a miniature purple snake no larger than a puppy watching, its eyes narrowing as its jaw curled up into a sinister smile.

-End Flashback-

"Indeed, Naruto-**kun**….. my spy network is fast and sparse! News does travel quickly indeed, I am afraid. And before long….. I'll have that **brat** of yours for my next rebirth into this **disgusting **and **absolutely filthy** world of peace!" Orochimaru grinned. "A world of chaos, destruction, physical power, and greed suits me…. A world of peace, cooperation, love and loyalty is trivial to my likings….".

"You madman! True strength is not about your strength on the outside! It's the strength in the heart that counts! AND YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY NOT GOING TO TAKE OUR SON FOR YOUR TWISTED EXPERIMENTS AND GENE-THERAPY!" Temari angrily said.

"And the same goes for me, too!" Naruto added on. "By the time this is over, the only Sage left will be **me**!"

"Prepare yourself, Orochimaru…. Because this will be our last meeting!" Temari said with rage.

"And the same goes back to you, you **filthy dog of the sand**!" Orochimaru spat out.

"Never, EVER make fun of the blood of my father! NEVER, EVER mock the blood of my countrymen!" Temari cried as she readied her fan. In sync, Naruto raised his Hiraishin Kunai and readied a Rasengan in his left hand.

"Now, Naruto-kun!" Temari cried.

Naruto nodded, initiating the deathly collaboration technique. It happened literally in a Golden Flash.

Naruto threw the Hiraishin kunai towards Orochimaru, then put his right hand into a single seal.

_"Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" _ he called out as the Hiraishin kunai multiplied into 30 kunai.

Temari swung her fan, starting an **extremely**, no, **atrociously **strong gust of wind chakra that snapped trees off their roots in a radius of 300 yards.

_"Wind Style: Wind Scythe Jutsu!" _the Wind Mistress called out.

The kunai swirled around and around inside the maelstrom of wind chakra. Temari grinned as she subconsciously guided the wind chakra around Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was now surrounded by the maelstrom of wind chakra as the kunai swirled around the cloud of death.

_"Crap! This wind chakra is too vicious to dissipate! A fire technique will not do!"_ thought Orochimaru as he received a deep cut in the neck from the winds themselves.

As Orochimaru finished that afterthought, a shadow-clone Naruto teleported appeared right behind him.

"Going somewhere?" he whispered in his ear as he taunted the snake sage.

Orochimaru's eyes widened.

Naruto's clone slashed horizontally at Orochimaru's neck. Orochimaru was thrown back, before the wind chakra gust guided itself around Orochimaru's body, bending the paths of the Kunai to fly around his body.

Clone after clone teleported to each of the swirling 30 kunai that rotated around Orochimaru's body, giving the snake sage a vicious slash each time. Orochimaru, now a cut-up and mangled form, screamed as each kunai slash went deeper and deeper into his flesh.

Meanwhile, the real Naruto had created a Shadow Clone for himself. Said clone added the proper amount of Wind Chakra to the Rasengan, a practice perfected by years of Wind-Chakra manipulation exercises taught to him by none other than The Wind Mistress of Suna and **thousands** of shadow clones. With the swirling ball of death receiving its finishing touches, Naruto held up his now completed Rasenshuriken, complete with its revolving shuriken-like appendage around the spinning sphere of death.

As the last clone of Naruto's slashed at the Snake Sage, a lone Hiraishin Kunai, guided by the Wind Chakra from Temari's fan, was guided by said Chakra towards the front of Orochimaru. Naruto teleported to said kunai, throwing the Rasenshuriken towards Orochimaru's body.

_"Wind Style: Rasenshuriken"_ Naruto cried out as the shuriken-like appendage flew from his hand and spun toward Orochimaru. Said appendage hit Orochimaru square in the chest, making the Snake Sage scream what seemed to be his dying yelp.

Naruto teleported back to The Wind Mistress's side, and watched the destruction of the Snake Sage as the Rasenshuriken exploded, demolishing all the trees around the **Wind Gust**, and creating a crater 50 feet deep.

_"Wind Style: Orbital Wind Scythe Barrage!" _both blonde wind-users called out at once, finishing the collaboration technique.

Both blonde wind-users stood, grinning at each other for their very powerful, "triple S-ranked kinjutsu", as so Sasuke and Sakura called it, who were jealous that such a ninja team, in this case, a ninja couple, could collaborate so effortlessly to make such a powerful and fearsome ninjutsu technique.

But both knew deep down inside that somehow, Orochimaru wouldn't let himself go down, not even by the likes of such a technique.

And this wasn't far from the truth. For 5 seconds later, a very bloodied and torn-up, but nevertheless alive Orochimaru _Shunshined_ his way towards a tree branch near the wind-technique duo.

Orochimaru's right arm slid off its socket as the Snake Sage winced in incredible pain. He gave a very weak and feeble, but nevertheless malice-filled laugh.

"You two wind-users thought that you could end my experiments. What a futile dream….. And before you know it…. that **_ice brat's body _**will be for my taking…." Orochimaru grinned as he sunk into the Earth.

Naruto and Temari let out a breath of relief, never expecting to come across such a dangerous and infamous S-ranked war criminal. Then Naruto looked out to the Sun and noticed that it was starting to set under the top of the distant hills.

"Temari-hime, do you want to set up camp near here?" the Orange Wind-User asked.

Temari grinned. "Sure, my Orange Prince…. Just make sure there aren't any snakes **anywhere **near us…."


	7. Omake: Profile of Naruto Uzumaki

Chapter 8

Once again, I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. KISHIMOTO OWNS IT.

First Omake: Stat book and Profile of Naruto

FOR EYES ONLY

Subject #1

Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze

Ninjutsu: 4.5

Taijutsu: 3.5

Genjutsu: 3

Intelligence: 3

Strength: 4

Speed: 5

Stamina/Chakra Reserves: 5

Chakra Control: 3

**Total: 31**

**Main jutsu List**

_Hiraishin_

_Wind Style: Rasenshuriken_

_Summoning: Gamabunta_

_Shadow-Clone Technique_

_Hiraishin – Second Step_

_Hiraishin Shield_

_Sage Mode Activation_

_Jinchuriki Awakening_

_Big Ball Rasengan_

**Collaboration Jutsus**

_Wind Style: Orbital Wind Scythe Barrage_

_Wind Style: Super Big Ball Rasenshuriken _

**Chakra Affinity: Wind**

Monikers: "Orange Wind Prince of Konoha", "The Future Orange Hokage of Konoha", "#1 Knucklehead Ninja", "The Most Unpredictable Ninja", "Saviour of this World" "Second Coming of the Yellow Flash"

_Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, son of the "Yellow Flash of Konoha" and the "Red-Hot Habanero" of the Leaf, is the son of the Yondaime (Fourth Hokage), the Jinchuriki and vessel of the strongest Tailed Beast, The Nine Tails (Kyuubi), and is widely recognized as the "Saviour of this World" for his bravery and actions in the Fourth Shinobi World War to protect those he loved, at the risk of his own life. Despite being ostracized from youth for being a vessel for such a vile beast, and being unjustly treated as a son of a Hokage, he nevertheless never gave up in trying to protect the few he loved. This self-sacrificial love did not go unnoticed, and with much time and effort, Naruto become a popular ninja figure among the village's forces. And with his critical role in ending Pain's invasion of his home-village, his seat as a hero for all of the village to admire was made secure. This dedication to protect those he loved could be seen through his actions during the Fourth Shinobi World War - he disobeyed orders to stay at Turtle Island and remain hidden from The Akatsuki, who were after the Nine-Tails within him to reawaken the dreaded bane of Man, the Shinji (Ten Tails) – an act that would most certainly end mankind's existence. He instead escaped out of the prison with the help of his rapping fellow Jinchuriki, Killer Bee, and provided very critical military support so that in the ending, the Allied Shinobi Alliance was able to defeat Madara Uchiha and reclaim the Elemental Nations as their own. Naruto is often cited as being the Leaf's next Hokage, and it is true - the Leaf would have no other than the brave and compassionate Blonde wind-user that took so much pain to love it as their own leader._

Family:

Minato Namikaze (Father)

Kushina Uzumaki (Mother)

Temari Sabuka (Wife)

Minato Uzumaki (Son)

Raze Sabuka (Father-in-law)

Karura Sabuka (Mother-in-law)

Gaara Sabuka (Brother-in-law)

Kankaro Sabuka (Brother-in-law)

Yashimaru (Uncle-in-law)

**Assessment of Abilities**

**Ninjutsu**

Despite a very poor chakra-control rating that sticked to him ever since childhood, Naruto's vast chakra reserves, perseverance in critical times, and ability to conjure quick solutions on the battlefield with his "street-smarts" form his prankster childhood made his ninjutsu a force to be reckoned with. His ninjutsu style of no-nonsense, chakra-dense attacks comes courtesy as an inheritance from his mother, Kushina Uzumaki, whose vast chakra reserves she passed on to her son also enabled her to develop such a vicious and effective Ninjutsu style. Naruto is also adept at Chakra Nature-Manipulation, and with his wind affinity, was able to conjure some of what are arguably the strongest Jutsu on the planet, some even becoming forbidden to use (such as the _Wind Style: Rasenshuriken_)

**Taijutsu**

Although not his specialty, Naruto's Taijutsu attacks are quite a bothersome element to deal with as a result of his ingenious coordination of his Shadow Clones. His **extremely-large** chakra stores enable him to effectively create a large number of Shadow Clones while still maintaining a fair amount of strength in each one. The sheer number of shadow clones, ingenuity coming form a childhood spent pulling pranks on unlucky citizens, and sheer strength allow Naruto to from a Taijutsu style that fits his high chakra reserves and is a force to be reckoned with.

**Genjutsu**

As seen in the regular Naruto Shippuden story, Naruto is not very adept at making Genjutsu. Nevertheless, he is very able to not fall prey to it, as shown when he was able, with the Kyuubi's help, able to break a Genjutsu from the most powerful Dojutsu, the Mangekyo Sharingan, a feat unheard of, even by Genjutsu specialists themselves. After the Fourth Shinobi War, Naruto swapped some training with a Mangekyo Sharingan user, his own best friend Sasuke Uchiha, to learn some formidable Genjutsu that although are not his specialty, in conjunction with his no-non-sense sheer Ninjutsu and Taijutsu make a very formidable fighting style that is hard to counter – a particularly well-timed Genjutsu cast by the blonde wind-user will have most enemies scrambling for cover as they are then pummeled by nonstop Ninjutsu attacks and Taijutsu smashes.

**Intelligence**

Naruto, to be quite frank, is definitely** not** a smart character. Nevertheless, the fruits of a prankster childhood made him very adept at making plans on the fly. His "street smarts", combined with his sharp wits, enable him to plan on-the-spot for any battlefield situation. Nevertheless, many people are not afraid to call out on his idiotic deeds, particularly another Blonde wind-user…..

**Strength**

Once again, although Taijutsu and Strength are not Naruto's specialties, years of training with his beloved friend has made him a formidable opponent in these same departments. In conjunction with Sage Jutsu, Naruto is more than capable of having the strength necessary to pummel his enemies, even able to lift boulders when trapped in small spaces. After the War, Naruto would train with Rock Lee to further his martial art skills. Nevertheless, strength is one thing Naruto Uzumaki cannot rely on – his specialty lies within wind-based Ninjutsu, a specialty that has won him the name of "The Orange Wind Prince of Konoha" by the Sunagakure Ninja of Wind Country during and after the Fourth Shinobi World War, who were awed by the ninja's prowess at wind jutsu despite being a foreigner to their country. This title was further sealed when his wife was no other than the other strongest Wind User…

**Speed**

Naruto, in his Nine-tails Jinchuriki form, possesses untraceable speed, even outrunning the Raikage during a particular battle of the Fourth Shinobi World War. His great physical speed while in Jinchuriki form is further augmented by the Hiraishin. After the war, the council of Konoha allowed Naruto (graciously) to take a look at his father's (Fourth Hokage's) scrolls in the Namikaze Household, which he took with thankfulness to learn the most famous jutsu of the Yondaime, the Hiraishin, a jutsu that allows one to manipulate the time-space continuum and teleport to a marked location. The Nine-tails chakra form allows him to be physically fast, and in conjunction with the Hiraishin, Naruto is often reputed as the "Second Coming of the Yellow Flash" by Iwa ninja, but with respect and reverence of his great ninja skills, rather than hate.

**Stamina/Chakra Reserves**: Being an Uzumaki, Naruto is blessed with vast stores of chakra – so vast, that even without the Kyuubi's chakra, his chakra level is large enough to offer a platoon the necessary Chakra to fight a section of the Shinji during the Fourth Shinobi World War. His life force is also equally as strong – even with the removal of a Tailed-beast, he was able to weakly but surely live until the Yin half of Kyuubi was sealed back into him.

**Chakra Control**

Due to his vast chakra reserves, Naruto has quite a hard time controlling all of it effectively. Nevertheless, through the help of training with Shadow Clones and ingenious ways of casting jutsu, this in no way seriously hampers Naruto's ability to cast deadly Jutsu. Nevertheless, his control has increased substantially ever since the Fourth Shinobi World War, even being able to make a _Big Ball Rasengan_ with one hand.

**_Lord of the Ice and Winds Arc_**

After the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto was heralded as a hero to mankind for his acts of courage, bravery, honor, and love during the War. With much charismatic reasoning, he convinced the new Hokage, Kakashi Hatake, to not punish his best friend Sasuke Uchiha for his war crimes, earning the deep respect and reverence of his raven-haired friend. Some time after the war, Naruto decided to reveal his true last name – it had been hidden to protect him from ninjas who would claim the life of the "Yellow Flash" who killed thousands of Iwa-nin during the Third Shinobi World War. With that, Naruto became Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. Some time after the war, Naruto came to realize how beautiful of a woman Temari Sabuka, the sister of Gaara Sabuka, who he had saved from being turned into a human weapon as a Jinchuriki, was in loving her brother still, even though she was persecuted for being a "demon lover" and supporting a monster. Likewise, Temari reciprocated to such notions with equal thoughts of Naruto's beauty in character: Naruto becoming the loving man he was despite the bone-crushing and cruel childhood of a Jinchuriki he lived through, and turning hatred toward him from others to love and compassion for his friends and enemies. With both blonde wind-users finally noticing each other, Naruto and Temari fell in love together 7 months after the War, and after a (forced!) courtship made courtesy by Gaara Sabuka, they were officially a couple and 4 months later were a happily married couple. 6 months later, Temari gave birth to their first child, Minato Uzumaki. Naruto, now a father and a prospective Hokage, continues to serve with his wife to protect his village and the ideals of peace, love, and cooperation he preached to the ninja world and was successful in conforming.

**Physical Description**

9 years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto hasn't changed much in physical appearance. Kakashi Hatake, Hokage of the Konoha and student of Naruto's father, Minato Namikaze, has noted that Naruto has looked so much more like his father in the past 5 years. Naruto still dresses in his standard Orange-and-Black outfit. A noticeable change, however, to his outfit is the addition of a Hiraishin kunai pouch on his left. Otherwise, everybody's favorite Blonde Hokage is just as childish and unruly as ever, even 11 years ever since his debut.

**Personality**

Just like his physical description and "please-kill-me" suicidal and atrocious orange outfit suggests, Naruto has not changed **at all** in personality, much to the chagrin of a Blonde Wind Mistress, the lazy and dispassionate sigh of a Silver-haired Hokage, and the berating of an angry Blonde-haired grandmother Slug-Queen as she chases her happily cackling surrogate son and jovially laughing surrogate grandson around the Hokage tower for daring to call her an "old hag".

**Trivia**

-Naruto Namikaze's favorite food is ramen and red-bean soup, and will forever be for the rest of all time!

-Despite changing his last name to Namikaze, Naruto still keeps his former last name alive within his son Minato's, as a remembrance and salutation to his mother, the "Red Hot Habanero of Death".

-Naruto's son, Minato Uzumaki, is the very first Ninja child born in a long time with 3 **very very very strong **chakra affinities: Wind, Water, and Ice. He is also the first person to be born with Ice-Release in the past few years. It is speculated that he is **the last** person with such a precious and rare Gekkei Kenkai, inciting the attempts of various parties to abduct the child for their own genetic research on how to harness it's power. Unfortunately for them, all efforts to do so have been fruitless, hence the bashing of a Wind Mistress's metal fan on an unlucky burglar's head.

-Naruto's son, Minato Uzumaki, is also the first child in Shinobi history to be born of multiple royal bloods: He is the grandson of a former Hokage, a grandson of a former Kazekage, a grandson of a former Noblewoman from the Land of Whirlpools, a son of a Future Hokage, and the nephew of a present-day Kazekage.

-Naruto's hobbies include pulling pranks in Konoha with his son, Minato Uzumaki, painting graffiti with said blonde on Kakashi Hatake's stone face (much to the sigh of civilians who complain of a "storm that never settles"), eating different types of ramen, and hanging out with his brother–in-law, Gaara Sabuka. He enjoys visiting his wife's homeland time-to-time, and always enjoys showing off his wind-chakra in wind-style magic shows across Wind Country.

-Naruto's favorite ending expression is "dattebayo!" (believe it!).

-Naruto is 26 by the time of this part of _Lord of the Ice and Winds_.

-Naruto loves to refer to his wife as "Temari-hime", much to the smile and pleasure of his wife, who enjoys being called by such an affectionate title, only for that pleasure to be wiped away to righteous fury as he ditches her "wholesome cooking" for some ramen at Ichiraku's.

-Naruto is often very disgruntled when his son, Minato, often sticks to his mother rather than giving his father the "respect he so deserves".

-Naruto enjoys challenging **his** Wind Mistress to battles to see who is the stronger Wind-user: The Orange Wind Prince of Konoha vs The Wind Mistress of Suna. Unfortunately, most of the times these battles end with Temari simply asking her young son the same question, to which he will answer that his mother is always the stronger and smarter of the two, much to the triumphant glee of the Wind Mistress and often the running of the Orange Wind Prince with his tail caught between the two legs.

-As his moniker suggests, Naruto Namikaze, the "Orange Wind Prince of Konoha", along with his wife, "The Wind Mistress of Suna", are the two strongest Wind-Users in Shinobi History. It is no surprise that their son, Minato Uzumaki, inherited one of the strongest Wind Affinities ever seen in a young Shinobi ever since Naruto Namikaze and Temari Sabuka themselves, along with a just-as-strong Water affinity, and a notoriously deadly Ice Release.

-The "Orange Wind Prince of Konoha", along with the Wind Mistress, form the strongest two-man Ninja team in all of Konoha, tied only with Sasuke and Sakura's Ninja team.

**End Profile**

**_Here's a sneak-peek to the next chapter!_**

In the middle of Konoha Forest, a camp-fire raged on. Situated around the campfire were two travelers' bags, a tent, and a few open scrolls. Naruto Uzumaki and Temari Sabuka unpacked their things and husband and wife set up camp.

"My Orange Wind Prince, would you kindly go get some firewood for both of us?" asked the Wind Mistress.

"My pleasure…. Temari-hime…." Said the Wind Prince as he got up to do what the apple of his eye commanded him. Temari laughed softly. It felt good again to spend some time alone with her husband, away with the business of Shinobi duty, even though they themselves were in the middle of one, a very dangerous one at that.

Temari tried to shake that last thought of the danger of their mission away as she instead focused on unsealing their sanitary supplies.

Naruto came back with the firewood. Or at least what he thought was firewood. The Wind Mistress face palmed herself as she couldn't believe that her Wind Prince would be so baka as to pick up twigs for the fire. Wait, never mind, she could believe such an idiotic thing…..

After much reprimanding of her husband that a fire needed more than a "few twigs" to stay alit, the Wind Prince Naruto grumpily walked back to pick up driftwood near the river, with a few bumps on the side of his head that told the story of a "gentle spanking" on the head with a metal contraption.

With a fire alit, Temari and Naruto ate their rations, the Wind mistress taking extra care to make sure her husband **did not **eat unhealthy food such as the cups of cancer **the day** before what could be a critical strike mission. With dinner done, the Wind Mistress announced that she would take her noble repose, to which her Prince gladly nodded as he discreetly hid the "papyrus of love" up his sleeve, telling her that he needed to go brush his teeth near the river.

-Riverbank-

A lone squirrel was nibbling on the remains of a chestnut that it had found. Its ears bristled as it heard the sound of uncontrollable giggling and a paper being laid down on the floor. Its fur stood up at the hearing of a loud "poof" in the direction it was listening to.

Then there was a silence. The squirrel scurried to a nearby rock when it heard it.

"M-M-Min-Mina-Minato!"

Then the squirrel sprinted away to the safety of the forest interior when it heard the screech of what seemed to be a hawk.

"MINATO SABUKA UZUMAKI! YOU'D BETTER EXPLAIN YOURSELF AT ONCE!"

The squirrel shivered at the thought of what kinds of new predators were recently coming to the forest. This one seemed to be the most dangerous of them all.


	8. The Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 8: The Calm Before the Storm

Minato rubbed the 20 bumps on his head as he sat on the cold forest floor, looking through his eyes as if he were seeing illusions.

Temari Sabuka, mother of Minato Sabuka Uzumaki, was standing there in her righteous motherly rage and fury, hands on her hips, regarding her son as if he were a cockroach.

Minato smiled his cute smile he used whenever he tried to get out of tough situations, which normally worked. "Hey….. Mom… hey… Dad….."

"What were you thinking Minato, running off like that! I told Rock Lee and his son to make sure that you didn't escape from his house!"

"Oh… about that….." Minato nervously smiled, scratching the back of his head like his older counterpart…..

-Rock Lee's House-

Rock Lee and his son laid on the kitchen floor, drunk from the liquor-filled curry they had eaten 7 hours before.

"Son….. have we given in to the 3 taboos of a Shinobi?" asked the father fearfully.

"I'm afraid so, dad….." said Saito in great conviction.

"Son, we must take the consequences, then…." Said Rock Lee. "Let us climb the Hokage Monument **up** and **down** 100 times!"

"Yes, Tou-san!" cried Saito with fire in his eyes. "A breaking of the Ninja taboos shall not withhold us from keeping our flames of youth!"

"That is right, Saito-sono! Now, let us go!"  
>"Hai, Tou-san!" cried Saito.<p>

"Father!" said Saito.

"Son!" cried Lee.

"Father!" cried Saito.

"Son!" cried Lee with genuine tears.

"Father!" cried Saito with equally convicted tears….

-Outside the Lees' Home-

A group of spec-ops Anbu lied in wait outside the Lees' home, wondering if the "horrid Genjutsu" casted over the village only a few hours ago was completely eradicated. So, the 5 ninja peered through he window sill…..

…and vomited on the window and each other. A crow that would have made Itachi Uchiha proud flew over the men's' bodies, doing Nature's duty on every one of them.

"**Caw, Caw, Caw**" the bird said in blatant mockery.

-Back to Minato-

"Hey… Rock Lee and his son were drinking in front of me…." Minato said with hope.

"WHAT! HOW DARE THOSE LIQUOR-INFESTED RATS TRY TO STAIN MY SON! THEY'LL GET THEIR FLAMES OF YOUTH WHEN I GET BACK…. ON THEIR SKINNY, SHRIVELED UP, SPRINGY ROUND GREEN BOTTOMS!" the Wind Mistress said.

The Orange Wind Prince of Konoha and his son sweat dropped at his wife's and his mother's outburst, respectively.

"Ummm. Temari-hime" said a bewildered Naruto.

"Oh, yeah, Naruto-kun. Let's decide what we shall do with our **rebellious son**" Temari said with a nasty sneer at the ending.

Minato gulped.

"When we get back, Minato, you're not going to eat ramen for **2 months!"** grinned the Wind Mistress.

"Wait, Mom, you can't do this! I'll do **all **the house chores for 4 months!" cried Minato. _"Slave-driving, Manservantism, Torture – I'll do anything, just PLEASE DON'T TAKE MY RAMEN!" _cried Minato in his head.

"I've got to hit you where it hurts son. Naruto, don't you **dare** take him to Ichiraku's for those 2 months. Or else…." Glared the Wind Mistress.

"Yes… Tem-…. Temari…hime" shivered the Orange Wind Prince of Konoha.

-1 hour later-

Naruto changed his clothing so that he could go to bed. Fortunately for the both of them, Naruto and Temari always took into consideration the possibility of housing someone during their missions. The large sleeping bag more than fit the petite and short Minato.

Naruto put Minato's sleeping bag and pillow a few feet away from the 2-man sleeping bag he and Temari shared. Naruto put heating seals around the tent to give the tent the warmth of their home back in Konoha. He also put detection seals around the camp in case any intruders attempted to attack their campsite. He positioned some very well-placed firebomb sealing tags on the perimeter of the camp in case someone attempted to attack them in their sleep. Finally, he created a Shadow Clone to watch over the camp during the night, a duty to which the disgruntled Shadow Clone grumpily accepted, for his caster was the master of all his actions and will.

Minato slipped into his sleeping bag quite snugly. Tired from eating all of those cups of cancer, he put his head down on the pillow and instantly fell asleep, his teal eyes slowly closing off their sunlight as those orbs hid behind the valley for their rest.

Naruto and Temari slipped into their sleeping bag together. Naruto found himself looking into his wife's beautiful emerald eyes for 20 minutes straight. Temari found herself looking into her charming husband's azure orbs for 20 equally and painfully long minutes. Both of them looked at each other's countenances, wondering if this would be the last time they would see it for the rest of their lives. Their hearts tried to bring out this anxiety, but whenever one of them tried to, he or she failed.

The plateau between the couple stopped when finally both at the same time succumbed to their tired states from fighting Orochimaru and fell asleep, each in the other's arms, wondering if their love would last.


	9. Into the Wild

Once Again, I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. Kishimoto owns it.

Chapter 9

Naruto tried his very best in the morning to teleport Minato back home using the Hiraishin. Minato, however, was too smart for that – he had scrubbed off **all** the Hiraishin markings on the walls of their home.

_"He __**DEFINITELY**__ takes after his mother in intelligence…..' _Naruto frowned internally.

Temari considered one of them taking Minato back home, but Naruto pointed out that they didn't have much time left in their mission objective. Shadow Clones were a definite option, but Naruto and Temari realized that it was a very chakra-taxing jutsu, and wasting their chakra mindlessly would mean death to them should they encounter serious danger in the forest. Besides, Konoha was a long way off, and sending a clone home with their son would not guarantee that an intruder would not attack their child. Shadow clones dispelled easily when attacked, and they did NOT want to risk the chance of leaving their precious child unattended after. So, after much forethought, the Orange Wind Prince and his Wind Mistress decided that they had no choice but to **VERY VERY VERY **hesitantly take their rambunctious, yet clever and adorable son on their S-ranked mission. Nevertheless, they would have to take certain precautions to see to it that their son would not be put in danger, and resolved to leave him at whatever camp sites they made, much to the pouting of Minato, who always dreamed of going on a "super-duper cool S-ranked mission that lucky Mommy and Daddy can always go on" while leaving him with a "Youthful Green Freak" of nature that Naruto so insensibly tasked with the impossible and futile job, as lil' Minato always had the perseverance of his father and the wits and wisdom of his mother to always escape out of the stickiest situations that life could throw at the 8-year-old Blonde Wind-user.

The Blonde Wind-user family walked together through the forests of Konoha, each one taking in the magnificent and beautiful nature of the wildlife around them. Minato giggled as he picked up a Hibiscus flower and froze the condensation on the petals' rims with his Ice-release, turning the little plant into a shining ruby-red gem.

Naruto, taking sight of a beautiful white lily, grinned his usual prankster smile that people learned to love and loathe at the same time. He took it off its stem and presented it before his Wind Mistress.

Temari grinned. It was good to have her quiet and romantic times with her husband when they were on missions alone like this. Ironically, whenever they were on missions, they could spend more time alone with each other and enjoying each other's presence. This was no exception as Naruto gave a twinkle of his eye to his precious Wind Mistress.

"This flower is so pretty, Temari-hime. But **MY** desert lily is **so much more** beautiful than any orchard you can find on this planet."

Temari smiled at her husband's sweet compliment. She giggled as he put the flower on her hand using his soft, yet strong hands. Temari enjoyed grasping those hands with her own. They, like his blue eyes, gave her so much security, so much thankfulness that there was someone out there with equal vigor to change the world. She put the flower behind her ear as Naruto put his right hand behind her shoulder, and she put her arm behind his back as they walked through the beauty of the forest interior, enjoying not so much of the beauty of the fauna there but rather the beauty of each other as they walked in solitude, away from any kind of obstruction like other people, the media, the city, the crowds in the town square….. they walked with a rare sense of peace and quiet in each other, enjoying what might be the last moments seeing each other….

With that thought, The Orange Wind Prince and his wife open their eyes wide and averted them to anything that could be dangerous. Whenever they did so, they saw nothing but the beauty of the forest interior they were admiring only minutes ago. With that, both wondered what in the world could be so dangerous out there that would claim the lives of so many gifted shinobi.

They stopped near a river to take a 1 hour break and eat lunch. Minato enjoyed freezing the water coursing near the vicinity of the river bank so that he could run around on the solid water, freezing any other parts of the river that dared to impede his joy-filled run on the river's surface as random fish swam around his feet, nibbling at the random yet spectacular and beautiful icicles that had sprouted on top of their habitat. Naruto and Temari both sat near the riverbank, with their arms over each other's backs, smiling at each other, and laughed jovially as they watched their son's energetic, yet adorable alertness.

After watching their son's amusing antiques, the 2 blonde wind-users continued their journey toward the center of the forest interior. Nothing worth their careful scrutiny was there or at least didn't show itself, for the rest of the Blonde Wind-users' hike was filled with nothing but beautiful fauna and the random forest-dwelling animal. Once in a while, a grey bunny would run across the forest interior, to which Minato would happily chase after using the intense stamina he had inherited from his father and trap in a corner using the intuitive wits he had inherited from his mother so that he could grab and cuddle the cute furball, much to the chuckles and adoration of his father and mother, who were befuddled by his great vigor and energetic disposition and charisma and simultaneously lovable sharpness and brightness in mind and intelligence.

When the sun started to set, the two Blonde Wind-users began to think why such a mission was assigned at all. They had encountered no enemies, not even a single feeble burglar. With that thought, they peacefully and even happily set up camp near the foothills east of Konoha. The Orange Wind Prince and his Wind Mistress began to wonder why they had been so anxious about their mission in the first place. Minato, on the other hand, was wondering why he never explored the beauty of nature **outside** his village. He enjoyed the serenity of the rivers and lakes, he enjoyed the majesty and epic size of the mountains they were camping near, and he enjoyed the beauty of the flowers as he froze them and turned them into precious gems of all sorts of colors. He enjoyed the verdant and pleasing and calming nature of the meadows and trees they passed by. He enjoyed the little cute animals he had so enjoyed to cuddle. And with those thoughts, he vowed to explore more of the beauty inside the forest interior.

With the large 30x30 feet tent set up, the campfire alit with their rations cooking, the sleeping bags opened, the scrolls unsealed, the detection seals in their place, and the firebomb seals ready to bless the unlucky intruder with a fate much better than the righteous, protective nature of the Wind Mistress over her young, the Namikaze family was set for the night.

After a warm, comfortable, and surprisingly tasty dinner that felt so good after such a long and tiring hike through the woods that was mostly spent searching for any threatening sources of enmity toward future forest travelers, Naruto and Temari tucked their son into bed before they themselves slid into their sleeping bags, this time with a peace that they both would make it out of the mission definitely one piece. Unfortunately, they only tucked in **what** they thought what their son.

-Flashback-

(1 hour ago)

"Minato! Would you mind helping your father out here set up our tent?" Temari asked as she arduously worked unsealing the scrolls containing their sanitary supplies.

_"Heh, now's my time to escape so that I can enjoy __**MORE**__ of what Mother Nature has to offer…." _Minato snickered internally. He rose his hands to cross his fingers in a **T** formation and create a Shadow Clone.

"Coming Mom!" Minato cried out, pretending that he was indeed going back to his family when in reality, his Shadow Clone was, and the real one was going away to do his own bidding in enjoying what else Mother Nature had to offer. Unfortunately, Mother Nature would have so much to offer other than wildlife beauties…

-End Flashback-

A mile away from the camp site, as his mother and father fell asleep after their very long, tiring, and initially stressful hike through the forest as they initially believed that there was something that would claim the lives of so many ninjas, Minato Uzumaki stood on one of the foothills, his **very** **large** Tessen strapped on his back, his sword given to him from Ganryu tied to his right, and his Hiraishin pouch tied on the left of his weapons belt. He was dressed in his training uniform – a blue jumpsuit with the Uzumaki red swirl on the back, along with matching navy-blue boots and blue socks. His mother had always praised him for his selection of clothes, often asking herself distantly why her own Wind Prince of a husband wouldn't follow suit (literally). In reality, though, he chose a blue outfit to honor the Mizukage, his personal trainer, and Ganryu, who trained him in most of what he knew in advanced Kenjutsu, by taking upon Mizugakure's national colors. Of course, he wasn't trying to defy his homeland and clan, as seen by the Uzumaki swirl on the back of his jumpsuit.

With the remembrance of what he vowed to do with the rare privilege of being outside the village, with his own self to admire, explore, and see the world around him rather than the small, compacted, and simplified world he had lived in Konohagakure, where everybody pointed at him and only knew him to be the "Son of the Saviour of This World", "Son of the Future Hokage", "Honorable Grandson of the Fourth", "Honorable Grandson of Lady Kushina", "Honorable Grandson of the Third Kazekage", and perhaps more recently as the "Nephew of the Kazekage". He wanted to make for himself a new self-identity, a new way of looking at himself by exploring the escapist world of nature that he had so fallen in love with in only a few hours after leaving Konoha and enjoying the beauty of the world around him, rather than the beauty of the world that was given and forced upon him.

With that last thought, Minato jumped away into the darkness, ready to explore the unknown he had so wanted to see for himself.


	10. Into the Wild (Part II)

Chapter 10: Into the Wild (Part II)

Minato ran through the forest interior, laughing jovially as he spread his arms out like an airplane, taking in the beauty of the forest with every step he took. He caught sight of a young sparrow and its chicks, and gave futile yet frantic chase after the birds. He caught sight of a young cub and its mother – the mother bear growled furiously, to which Minato scampered away, not wanting to deal with the ferocious creature.

Minato heard the sound of canaries and more sparrows. He became enchanted by the aurora of the wildlife around him, and the natural symphony playing in his ears, almost as if all of those masterpieces of music were exclusively for him. He excitedly grasped a few wisps and blades of grass, which he happily froze into emerald gems that his equally magnificent teal orbs shone light onto – those two planes of verdant life seemed to parallel each other, those two worlds seemed as one, as if they both belonged to a completely new dimension – a beautiful dimension away from the bothersome elements of village life, of city life, of media…..

Minato grinned. It felt so good to be out here, away from all those people who didn't see him as he was. Out in nature, he felt that nature as a whole not only accepted him for what he was, but beckoned him in with open arms. Every breath he took, he smelled the sweet smell of Cedar happily walking up his nose – every feel of the earth below him, and he felt the ants happily greeting him with their curiously withering antennae as they walked up to the newcomer that had so peacefully come to their hive.

Minato giggled as he felt on of the ants curiously nick the end of his finger with its antennae. He felt some kind of peaceful, happy, and accepting aurora within the insect as it and others walked away and came back carrying an acorn that their strong mandibles nevertheless were not able to open.

Minato picked up the acorn, and using the Wind-chakra exercises he had learned from his Blonde Wind-Style Master Mother and Blonde Wind-Style Master Father, cut the acorn in half so that its sweet succulent contents were exposed to the air. Minato happily put the acorn back onto the ground, and curiously watched the ants chew on the sweet and delectable parts of the acorn's inside. Once they were finished, they walked back to their hive, and 30 of them returned carrying a large, succulent apple sweeter than the highest quality dango stick from the local sweets store that it could offer back in the village. Minato gleefully picked up the apple and took a very energetic and large bite, silently thanking the ants for the gift, to which the ants surprisingly returned back with an aurora of equal thankfulness. Minato sighted – peace had come so easily to him in the forest. He wished that the village would do the same for him – would treat him as **Minato Uzumaki**, not as an "honorable grandson" or an "honorable relative"…..

Minato stood up from where he had been standing near the hive – indeed, nature held its open arms for him as he looked around, admiring the beauty of the verdant landscape, of the viridescent nature of the wild -life around him. He continued to listen to the canaries' and sparrows' song as he felt his spirit and soul linger with their's, of joining the song and majestic anthem of the forest, of the beauty found in nature that the villagers had so foolishly ostracized and banned.

Such thoughts were cut short, however, when he heard a rustling from behind him – this time it was not a sweet aurora, but rather one that spoke of vile intent. Minato turned around, pulling out his Tessen, ready to attack whatever dared to impede on his appreciation of the nature around him by dealing with it with every Wind-technique his Blonde Wind-Style Master Mother and Blonde Wind-Style Master Father taught him.

But that vile-intended impulse turned out to be nothing more than that of a white-and-black bunny that stepped out of the bushes, its nose and whiskers quivering as it sniffed the air for any sources of food and water. It had been a dry evening, and all the animals sought to revitalize themselves after arduously singing their forest theme.

Minato, somehow sensing the animal's thirst and hunger, took pity upon the adorable creature as he dug into his weapons pouch for his water cup, and using his Water Jutsu, condensed all the moisture in the air he could muster into the cup to fill it to the brim instantaneously with the precious necessity of life. He held the cup to the bunny's mouth, which graciously drank from the cup. The bunny gave that same exact aurora that the ants gave Minato – it gave him an aurora and sentimentality of thankfulness, of understanding, of sympathy of the boy's pain. Minato smiled at this comforting outlook. With every minute spent in the woods, he had wondered why he didn't live here. _"Wait, I know – I'll become Minato Uzumaki, Super-Tramp of the Woods!" _thought Minato with glee. But he frowned at that prospect – if he lived in the woods, how would he eat ramen ever again? He shuddered at that thought, and resolved to maybe stay back at home for the ramen, and come out to eh woods whenever he felt empty, lonely, when people were stupid and couldn't understand him or see him for who he really was (instead of an "honorable relative"), or whenever he was simply devoid of happiness.

When the bunny was done drinking the water, it nudged its soft ears on Minato's ankle. Minato affectionately stroked the bunny's head and scratched the back of its ears, to which the bunny returned the same sentimentalities of comfort, love, and security as it continued to nudge its newly found friend.

A pinecone up on a tree above them, however, dropped, releasing a large dust cloud that brutally polluted the magnificent creature's beautifully colored black-and-white fur coat. It squirmed under the unnecessary pressure of the dust and softly whimpered that its beautiful trench coat had been ruined.

Minato, taking pity upon the animal's demise, rose his hands up to cast a weak Wind Jutsu that he had learned once again from his Blonde Wind-Style Master Mother and Blonde Wind-Style Master Father that cleaned the bunny of the imperfections that had suddenly sprouted on the bunny's spectacular attire and spoiled its sensational magnificence.

The bunny, thankful for the convenient and well-intended wind bath, licked Minato's fingers, to which Minato giggled and kissed the back of its fur coat. The bunny, shaking off the remainder of the dust that had so dared to defile its latest and most beautiful installation of forest fashion, turned around and giving Minato the same aurora of thankfulness, understanding, and even outright sympathy and sentimentality, gave his finger a last affectionate nudge before it silently told Minato farewell and bounded off to the rest of the forest interior, seeming to wish Minato a blessed life with every leap and bound it took. Minato, wishing the same for his new animal companion, rose his hand up and wished the same back to his newest animal companion, to which the animal returned silently a "_Good Night" _before it officially disappeared off into the night, behind the hills.

Minato, still smiling, failed to realize the crouching predator that awaited for him near the top of the tree he was standing adjacent to. With a menacing grin, it leaped onto an unsuspecting Minato from above, wishing to add him to the collection of fossils of other stupid members of mankind that it had so vehemently hated…..


	11. The Tale of the Super Tramp

Chapter 11

Minato smiled at the rabbit that he had fondled only minutes ago, and after telepathically waving to the rabbit goodbye, which the rabbit actually responded to, he turned around to see more of the forest around him.

But just as he turned around, he was assaulted by a creature with vile intent.

Such creature was a black, lizard-shaped creature that had no eyes – its dark, sentient dark nature was more than enough for it to feel the disgusting and bright world around It that it so sought to swallow up and consume with evil. Its many sharp teeth flashed a very vile silver polish, and its muscular, long back spoke of many prey it had so effortlessly bitten and thrashed about. Its long tail seemed to grow every second it waved, almost pulsing as it moved its tail back-and-forth, pulsing ominous evil in every direction it waved.

The creature dropped form the tree slammed its tail on Minato's head, attempting io incapitate him before going for the strike.

"Wh-What!?" Minato called out in bewilderment as the unexpected creature descended upon him, slamming its appendage onto Minato's forehead.

Or rather** attempted** to slam its tail onto Minato's forehead. Minato, trained by the strongest shinobi and strongest kunoichi, none other than his dad, the Wind Prince, and his mom, Wind Mistress, wouldn't allow his nature-appreciation aside to be ruined by a rude intrusion that could come any second. Minato _Shunshined_ away from the monster and studied it 10 meters away.

_"Can't let those teeth sink into me – I'll be done for…." _Thought Minato.

With that afterthought, Minato grabbed his **very large** Tessen, and, using his Wind-chakra affinity, launched a very powerful gust of slicing and penetrating wind toward the monster.

_"Wind Style: Wind Scythe Jutsu!" _ Minato called. His attack was definitely not anywhere near his mother's in terms of power, penetration, or range, as his undeveloped chakra reserves and chakra control claimed a piece of his performance, but nevertheless it would do the job, he hopefully thought.

**Yes, he hopefully thought.**

The beast, shaking off the attack as nothing more than a little gust of wind, literally, shook its head left and right as it stomped its heel, ready to charge the boy and give him a taste of its deadly fangs.

_"Crap, that didn't affect it __**at all!**__ I knew I shouldn't have been that far away from camp! I could have called for help from Mom and Dad!"_ thought Minato.

The beast continued to charge the Blonde Wind-User, its fangs readied like a spear in battle, the claws on its legs outstretched to gore the boy.

_"Well, here goes nothing ….."_ Minato thought. He pulled out his sword and channeled the familiar Ice-chakra through it, as his sword became the shining silver gem that shone with all of the solid condensation around it just like at Ganryu's dojo. With that, he swung his sword around him, expecting it to be parried away easily as his body was struck down and consumed by the vile dark monster as a result of his foolishness and incompetence for staying away from camp…..

…..and was surprised to see his body still in one piece. He looked at his hands, wondering if the even worse condition of losing his hands came so that he couldn't eat ramen. But sure enough, the hands that held the chopsticks that shoved the contents of the cups of cancer were still there. He breathed a sigh of relief. He then looked down, and was in even more shock than realizing he had kept his heart's passion intact.

The monster lay on its back, cut into two, as black matter was oozing out of its internals as the black creature melted into the ground, its black matter sinking into the soil as the malicious predator was no more.

_"So….. it seems like Nature-manipulation attacks themselves won't kill it. But physical attacks do…" _Minato thought.

Using the perseverance of his father and the wisdom of his mother, Minato conjured a counterattack based on his sword attacks should such a vile creature attack him again. With that thought out of the way, Minato continued to explore the forest as if the attack never happened. Quite strangely, since it seemed that the assault by the evil creature had not shaken him up one bit. Minato Sabuka Uzumaki, son of a Future Hokage, nephew of a present-day Kazekage, grandson of Raze Sabuka, the former Kazekage, grandson of Minato Namikaze, the former Hokage, and grandson of Kushina Uzumaki, a princess form the Land of Whirlpools, would not allow his royal blood to impede him from exploring the unknown outside the village world that the village council, elders, civilians, the Hokage (Kakashi) himself, his surrogate grandmother (Tsunade), his parents, and even older fellow Shinobi had contained him from, arguing that since he was born of so many royalties, that he should be kept safe as a "monument for the rest of Konoha to admire and be inspired by". Of course, that was a lie- people only saw him for the ancestors that preceded him that brought so much honor to their homelands. They didn't know **Minato Sabuka Uzumaki**, son of Naruto Namikaze and Temari Sabuka, user of the Ice-Release, Kenjutsu specialist, ramen-lover, wildlife-lover, and most importantly, a boy with such a big heart to serve and protect the village self-sacrificially when he needed to. No, Minato was going to carve out his own self-identity as a separate individual from those royal members of his family that he was related to – he was going to be **somebody**, even if that meant risking his life to the third degree.

-Flashback-

-4 years ago-

"Kakashi-Ojiisan, can I go play outside in the forest?" asked a very young, small, adorable Minato. His teal eyes and facial features he had inherited from his mother, along with the same exact blonde hair and body of his father, had made Minato a very charming boy.

Kakashi regarded his surrogate-grandson and favorite pupil's child with a very adoring and loving eye. He lifted his face from the atrociously boundless pile of paperwork, scooted out of his chair, stood up, and walked over to the young Blonde boy.

Kakashi picked up young 4-year-old Minato with his strong right arm. With his left equally stalwart arm he stroked Minato's smooth skin on his right cheek. Minato had inherited his father's body features and his grandfather's bright, spiky, blonde hair with its long bangs and his mother's facial features and bright teal eyes. In other words, Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage and his sensei, had come back to life in the current Minato he was carrying. Kakashi looked at the boy, thankful at his fortune of having a grandson form his favorite pupil and the son of his sensei that looked so much like the father-figure Kakashi had so loved and tragically lost in the night of the Kyuubi's attack.

"Minato, did I ever tell you that you are my sensei's grandson?" asked Kakashi.

"Wait, THE FOURTH HOKAGE taught you?" Minato asked in bewilderment.

Kakashi eye smiled. "Yes, indeed, your grandfather taught me everything I know in terms of Shinobi skills. You are the living physical reincarnation of him. It is because of him that I am so strong today, and am able to lead a village as our Rokudaime Hokage".

Minato grinned at this news. So that made Kakashi even closer to the family than ever before.

"….and that is why I cannot let you get hurt."

Minato's eyes widened.

"If I lost you, I am losing my last link to my sensei's team before he died. All of my teammates, my beloved sensei….. they are gone, and only you are left. So, Minato, **please** – promise me that you won't leave the village and do something that would put you in danger….."

Minato, although reluctant to make such a promise that would debilitate his chances of adventuring the unknown outside the village he had so loved to see, a place away from the watchful eyes of the shinobi, civilians, parents, and the Hokage himself, promised the Hokage that unfortunate oath anyway, knowing its true meaning to the Silver-Haired Ex-Jonin and current Hokage.

-End Flashback-

Minato frowned. Even the Anbu assigned to him were forced to ignore his jovial and cheerful characteristics, and instead keep a harsh and watchful eye on him as they protected the Leaf's "Royal Family"….

-Flashback-

-3 years ago-

"Neji-Oji, can I go play with the other children?" asked Minato with hopeful eyes. Neji was Naruto's best friend since childhood, ever since Naruto had convinced him that a destiny was not fixated on one's birthright, and that Neji Hyuuga, despite being born in the Cadet side of the Hyuuga family, could be like one of the Master members of the family, and protect the Leaf with superb prowess.

Neji looked at his best friend's child with a very compassionate eye. They were standing near the playground near the center of Konoha. Ever since he had met the boy, he had taken a very large liking to him. His wife, Ten-Ten, enjoyed having the child over for dinner, and after she cooked Minato his favorite foods like ramen, she would take the child in her lap and show him all the weapons she had smithed and painstakingly tempered that day (Ten-Ten ran a very prestigious weapons shop in the Konoha after the war). Often times, after such dinners, Ten-Ten would train Minato (in the evening) more in the art of the sword, further polishing the skills taught to him by Ganryu in the morning. After such practices, Ten-Ten would sometimes even allow Minato to keep the top-notch quality swords she had crafted and had so graciously allowed him to practice with. Minato would then give both his new Uncle and new Auntie a very big smile, a smile akin to his father's famous trademark goofy toothed grin, and would thank them with over joyful hearts – his Uncle for caring for his well-being, his Aunt for being such a warm and compassionate Extra Mother-figure, and would dash off into the night, playing with his sword as he chopped left and right, cutting down the tallest of trees with the new techniques and strength that he learned and gained from his Auntie.

Whenever Neji casted his eyes on Minato, he saw his best friend's same determination, love, compassion, perseverance, hard-working attitude, and one-track mind to protect those he was closest to. And so did Neji start to love the boy as if he were another reincarnation of his bestest of friends. With that, Neji started to even offer Naruto to train his son. Neji had no children of his own yet, but instead saw a very lovable and adorable son in Naruto's own son, and sought to love Minato as if he was a child of his and Ten-Ten's own.

Neji started to train Minato, often brushing up Lee's Taijutsu training on Minato – although Lee's training made Minato a very physical strong boy for his age, his training often lacked focus and fine details. Neji sought to fix that – using his Jyuuken stance, he taught Minato **where** and **which** parts of the body to strike in battle, rather than foolishly and idiotically smack every part of the body, a problem people like Lee who followed his Taijutsu style often fell prey to. Even though Minato could not completely copy the _Jyuuken_, as he did not have a Dojutsu, while his trainer Neji did, Neji taught Minato how to expel chakra through the palms of his hands, and combined with the precise-striking of the basic Taijutsu form of the _Jyuuken, _Minato's Hand-to-hand form rivaled that of the Hyuuga's own _Jyuuken _fighting style as Minato too was able to strike certain chakra points of his opponents and block their chakra flow with ease, rendering Jutsu next to impossible for many of his possible enemies.

During the training, Neji adored Minato's personality. He had the hard-work, perseverance, determination, love, compassion, and noble one-track mind to serve his village of his own father, Naruto Namikaze, but he also had the wisdom, wits, intelligence, smarts, tact, and knowledge of his mother, Temari Sabuka. Neji loved Minato's honest desire to learn and apply the fighting skills for the goodwill of the village as he sought to protect it, a very odd desire for a 5-year-old – most kids his age, if they were boys, were stuck on bragging to others about their royal heritage and their natural strength, often from kekkei kenkais, while girls often became fan-girls at this age and cared more about boys than serving the village or getting stronger. Minato was different – he cared not for the natural strength he had, despite him ironically having perhaps **the most** natural strength of all the kids- he had the chakra stores from his father, who was an Uzumaki, the intelligence and keen Tessen skills of his mother, and **very very very strong** Wind Affinities form both of his parents, a chakra-element known for being among the strongest of the 5 basic chakra elements. Plus, Minato had a gekkei kenkai of his own – perhaps the rarest one on the planet at that moment – **Ice Release**, a name that struck fear into the hearts of ninjas all over the world who feared its very own blizzard blast that blew countless talented and strong shinobi into oblivion. Nevertheless, despite having such great natural Shinobi strength, having such great natural Shinobi potential from his father, natural Shinobi tact from his mother, and such great chakra affinities, in fact, two of the strongest – Wind and Ice, Minato Uzumaki was a very humble child that instead of adoring his own physical strength like most boys that would ogle their own senselessly, Minato instead sought to improve his own self rather than taking pride in his natural abilities, and had once again a very honest desire to learn, grow stronger, and protect the village with a very valiant and noble heart. Minato worked hard, yet was not an all-brawns and no brain person – not only was he a very hard-as-nails worker, but he inherited his mother's wisdom and pure smarts as he nailed his Shinobi training as if was nothing, learning various Shinobi skills in atrociously fast times.

And it was those things that made Neji love the boy even more. He even saw himself in the boy – the boy had the great talent, wisdom, and wits like he and Temari had, yet did not fall prey to being lazy and relying on those talents to get where he wanted like his father, Naruto Namikaze, who instead like the blonde's green bowl-cut haired counterpart relied on hard-work. Minato had the best of both worlds, and all of that for such a noble reason of protecting those he loved, and that was why Neji loved the boy's noble and seemingly perfect character.

"Neji-Oji?" asked Minato in bewilderment.

Neji sharply looked down. He had been reminiscing the entire time, looking up to the sky as he brought back memories from a few months ago. Time did pass by so quickly – it was only a few months, and yet Minato had soaked up everything Neji taught him like a sponge.

Neji loved the boy, and once again saw him as a physical reincarnation of his bestest of friends, but that love was the reason why he had such a strict and watchful eye on him, like an ostrich rearing her young. Naruto trusted Neji with his life, as Neji was also one of his bestest of friends, and with Neji's trusty Dojutsu the Byakugan and its handiness in finding chakra signatures so that he could easily locate the blonde haired young boy and his very large chakra signatures, courtesy of his **extremely large **chakra reserves, Neji's equally great tracking skills in case Minato went missing and he had to find him, Neji's extremely fast speed in case he did have to go search for Minato, and Neji's proficiency in close-quarters Taijutsu in case any intruder with vile-intent dared to touch his beloved blonde-surrogate son so that he could put such a daring intruder to a permanent sleep for daring to touch his beloved surrogate-son. This made Naruto, when he was given a choice of a personal protector for his son to protect such a Royal shinobi with multiple royal bloods (as he was the father of such a Royal shinobi), have a no-brainer choice in choosing Neji Hyuuga, one of his most trusted friends, to protect the child. Temari also gave the nod, as she had witnessed his great Shinobi strength in the Sasuke retrieval arc. This decision of course, made the Hyuuga clan pride itself in providing the personal protector of the son of the Future Hokage and the nephew of the Kazekage, and Neji just couldn't risk breaking that pride and the great responsibility on his shoulders as his fellow clansmen told him to protect the kid with his life, as he represented the splendor, majesty, and strength of the Hyuuga clan. This, combined with his already great love of the boy, often made him an overprotective father-figure of Minato, even more so than Naruto Namikaze, the boy's own father. This often put the child in seclusion from other children, as Neji just couldn't risk leaving the boy in any danger, no matter how miniscule it was. This extreme view often saddened Minato ,as he realized he had such a small chance of making friends.

"Umm…. Neji-Oji…." Asked Minato, this time with outright concern.

Neji looked down in exasperation to see the boy clutching his knee with his small, yet strong hands he had inherited form his father. Neji's eyes softened at the sight of the adorable child, and he picked up the child, putting him in his arms.

"Minato-kun, did you know that your father saved my life once?" asked Neji to his surrogate-son.

Minato's eyes widened. "Is my dad that awesome as people say?" asked Minato.

"That and some." Grinned Neji.

"You see, your father saved me from a fate worse than death – having no control of my life as I believed that destiny controlled it, rather than my own individual actions. But your father changed me – he taught me that destiny doesn't control my life, but rather my heart and actions control it. He taught me to follow my dreams, never giving up in the sight of opposition. At first, I didn't believe him, as you know, he was a dead-last in the Academy."

Minato's nose crinkled. "Yeah, my mom always told me my dad was always a loser when he was younger….".

Neji laughed. "Yes, your father had quite… atrocious performance when he was younger at school. But your father had something **much more** important than sheer intelligence – he had the drive to work hard and protect those he loved."

"And so on the first Chunin exams he went on, he was unfavored to win by the crowd. But by sheer hard-work, determination, and creative wits, he managed to beat me and prove to me that hard-work, determination, spirit, and strength in heart far outweighs natural talent."

"Minato, your dad saved me from my terrible fate. And you know what? You look so much like him that I would daresay that you are a physical reincarnation of him."

"And that is why I cannot let you get hurt. You are a link between me and my own saviour. Besides, what would your mother do to me should I allow you to get even a paper cut?" asked Neji, shuddering at the last thought of a Wind Mistress smashing his skull open for daring to let her young receive the slightest injury.

Minato also shuddered. He knew Neji-oji was right – if he did get hurt, that would only put Neji in trouble.

"Minato-kun, promise me that you won't do anything that puts you in danger." Neji said.

Minato nodded, this time to protect his personal bodyguard and protector from the rather **atrocious** rage of his mother, The Wind Mistress…

-End Flashback-

Minato, by now, was clenching his fists. His own surrogate-grandfather, and surrogate-father had not seen him for who he was simply because of his **stupid** royal blood.

Minato relaxed, however, for there was at least one, **no, two,** people that understood him.

-Flashback-

-2 years ago-

(Konoha evening)

Naruto led Minato to a nearby _Onigri_ joint to join up with his best friend and his former crush, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno.

"Daddy…. where are we going?" asked young Minato.

"Somewhere nice. We're going to meet a **really** good friend of mine." Grinned Naruto.

Naruto reached a small building with a sign that simply read _Onigri _on the front. He pushed aside the cloths at the front door, and led his fellow Blonde-Wind user son across the doorway.

Naruto grinned when he reached the table he was looking for.

Sasuke Uchiha, the last Uchiha with the last legendary _Mangekyo Sharingan_ Dojutsu and his wife, Sakura Haruno, were sitting patiently at a table, waiting for their best friend to turn up.

Sasuke grinned when he saw his best friend and said best-friend's son sit down. The raven-haired man said "Why, if it isn't our little Dead-last...".

"Shut up, Duck-face" Naruto grinned.

"Yeah, my dad's a pure idiot…." Said Minato naively.

At this, Sasuke and Sakura gave a large guffaw and literally fell of their chairs, rolling on the ground. Minato stood confused, wondering what he had just said. After all, it was the truth, as his always-right mother had said?

Naruto, however, was now red-faced beyond belief. He was so embarrassed that he stood up from the seat and started to walk away when suddenly Minato grabbed his arm.

"Daddy…. are you that stupid? This place has got, like, the best _Onigri_ on the planet! Don't ruin this opportunity just 'cause mom called you an idiot, like, 1,000,000,000 times!"

By this time, Sasuke and Sakura were crying on the ground, their faces red as they couldn't hold back their laughter. Naruto was now steaming in embarrassment, and whispered to his son.

"Shut up, Minato".

Naruto then wished he had never said that, because he then invoked a pink-haired, extremely strong Jonin's righteous female rage as she clenched her fists.

"NARUTO! YOU BAKA! HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH A MEAN AND HORRIBLE THING TO SUCH A CUTE YOUNG BOY!" Sakura yelled. She then smacked Naruto upside the head, who fell onto the table in an unconscious heap of orange, black, and yellow.

Sasuke snickered. "You know what, I'm starting to like this kid.".

Sakura, on the other hand, gave a squeal of delight. She picked up Minato from his seat and sat him on her lap, pinching his cheeks so hard, Minato thought they would be ripped off in seconds.

"Ahhhh…. Such a cute child." Sakura adored his bright teal eyes that were beautiful like her own. She adored Minato's cute face and magnificent long-banged blond hair.

"What's your name?" Sakura asked the boy, holding back the urge to hug and squeeze the boy half-to-death.

"Minato Uzumaki." Said Minato with his contagious smile that was, for millimeter to millimeter, exactly like his father's trademark toothy grin.

"You have grown up to be such a handsome man….. You look just SO ADORABLE in your blue tracksuit!"

True enough, Minato was wearing such a nice-looking piece of clothing. Whenever he was not in training, or whenever he was at the Academy, he was often dressed up in the Blue Tracksuit that so matched his Blue Jumpsuit in combat training.

"Yeah…. My mom likes it too 'cause she says its better than wearing orange…. And my Momma's always right…." Said Minato naively.

By this time, Sakura and Sasuke were laughing so hard that they both started to accidentally drool. Sasuke was laughing at his best friend's son's humorous naivety at his best friend's embarrassing pet-peeves in front of his bestest of friends, who often enjoyed to terribly joke with him by making fun of those pet-peeves, while Sakura was jovially laughing as she thought the same thing and how cute and "righteous" for such an innocent young boy would be to be so clingy to his mother, as he had so demonstrated. Naruto couldn't respond to this outright insult, as he was still an unconscious heap on the table. A very bewildered waiter stood there for 10 minutes straight, waiting for them to order. The only reason why the waiter was patiently (and painstakingly, as he watched the mind boggling and mind-spinning spectacle in front of him) was because the Future Hokage, the son of the Royal Bloods, the last Uchiha, and his wife were sitting coincidentally at one table. If a news reporter had happened to walk by the restaurant, and seen this, many interviews and snapshots would have ensured. Luckily, intelligent Sasuke knew this beforehand, and thus planned their lunch at a delicious, yet discreet and ordinary-looking _Onigri_ joint, as it, when served with Tomatoes and Bonito Fish shavings, was his favorite food.

"You know what – forget that I like this kid, I LOVE THIS KID." Grinned Sasuke.

Sakura laughed. "Me too – MINATO-KUN IS SO ADORABLE".

Minato blanched at the idea of having his head and eyes popped out their sockets as Auntie-Sakura hugged him literally to death.

"Well, glad to see both of his godparents loving him so much." Said Naruto, who had risen from his heap of Orange, Black, and Yellow.

Sasuke and Sakura looked at him with outright confusion.

"I've chosen my bestest of friends, you two, to take the mantle of being his godparents." Naruto repeated, this time in a welcoming, inviting, and loving tone.

Sakura was Sasuke were outright confused.

"Naruto…. I don't deserve to be your son's godmother…. I put so much pain, obligation, and unnecessary duty on your shoulders when I told you to bring Sasuke back to me….. I can never pay you back for all that pain….. I don't deserve this….." said Sakura.

While Sakura was shocked at such a privilege being given to her despite her undeserving state, Sasuke was **outright torn**.

"Naruto…. You went through so many dangers, life-threatening situations, possible deaths, training, hard-work, emotional trauma, ostracizing from your friends, opposition, chastising, scolding, even outright reprimanding for 2 long, painful years to save me. You even went though intense physical pain, even losing your arm to save me. I've costed you so much emotional pain, and stopped you in your dream to become Hokage. I've made you so hurt in you having to forgive me whenever I hurt you and instead treating me with outright love as you tried to save me. I don't deserve this Naruto…. Neji is a **much **better candidate for a godfather…."

"Neji may be a good godfather, and sure, he's a great friend to me, but only one other friend besides my wife, Temari-hime, and my brother-in-laws, Gaara-kun and Kankaro-kun, knows the pain of being alone, as I was a Jinchuriki. That person is you. Sasuke, our painful experiences join us together, and I would have no other person with such strength to endure such hardships in life to protect and take care of my son in case I disappear early. After all, who else would be strong enough to protect others? Only another person who works hard despite the hardships thrown at you, such as ostrasization and loneliness. Sure, you ran off to get revenge on Itachi, and while it was wrong, and Itachi was innocent, I know that you only did it for the sake of honoring those close to you – your dead family members. But Sasuke – we live in a world of peace – we don't have to avenge our loved ones, because everyone can love each other in this world of peace. But we still need to watch our backs – and I truly believe that there is no one stronger than you that is capable of protecting and loving my son, as you have the power to persevere even in times of pain, obstacles, and loneliness – that power is the only kind of power that can keep my son safe."

"And Sakura…. There is only one woman besides my Temari-hime who is good at disciplining children. And Minato will need plenty of that if I and my wife happen to pass on…." Said Naruto with a grin. Sakura returned the grin with a playful smirk.

"Sasuke…. Sakura….. please….. protect my son…." asked Naruto with hopeful eyes.

"Hai" said the raven-haired man and his wife, unanimously.

-End Flashback-

Minato loved his godfather Sasuke – he was the only one of his countless Uncles and Aunts (after the war, Naruto, the "Saviour of this World", became extremely popular) that saw him not as the "Honorable Son", "Honorable Grandson", or "Honorable Nephew" as most saw him as, but rather as **Minato Sabuka Uzumaki, **son of his best friend and savior.

Sasuke also noticed Minato's strange love with nature, and catered to it without any second thoughts, much to the Blonde's delight.

-Flashback-

-1.5 years ago-

Minato was near the playground of the center of Konoha, while Neji was watching him carefully. Whenever there were no kids on the playground, Neji would allow Minato to play, but only alone. He couldn't risk anybody hurting the Honorable member of the royal family, much to Minato's sadness.

Minato played with some grass that he continued to slowly freeze, turning the piece of grass into something that resembled an emerald gem.

"Hey Neji, what's up?" asked Sasuke as he walked up to him.

"Oh, just making sure young Minato is safe." Said Neji with a smile.

"You do know that if Minato does not play with other children, his social abilities and teamwork effectiveness will be immature, correct?" Asked Sasuke, narrowing his eyes.

"Yes, correct, but Minato nevertheless must stay safe. He is the 'Honorable Boy', after all" Neji said stoicly.

Sasuke sighed. He would have to hammer that out of Minato. There was only one thing to do. He closed his eyes….

….and opened them to reveal his trusty and most powerful Dojutsu, the _Mangekyo Sharingan_.

Sasuke cast a Genjutsu on Neji, a Genjutsu so powerful that the Byakugan couldn't dispel it. What Neji saw was a happy Minato, continuing to play with the diamond emerald he had created.

Sasuke, knowing that the Genjutsu definitely worked, walked downwards toward the playground.

"Hey, Minato-kun, what's up?" asked the raven-haired Uchiha.

"Hi, Sasuke-oji!" cheerfully said Minato.

"Minato, why do you always play with the grass? You know that there are fun toys here, like the swings or the monkey-bars, right?" asked Sasuke.

"Yeah, but I love nature! I want to get out of this village and see what's out there! If the plants are so beautiful here, I can't imagine how beautiful they can be **out there**!" exclaimed Minato with delight.

Sasuke had an idea. He grinned at the thought.

"Minato…. I got an S-ranked mission…. Wanna come?" asked the Uchiha.

Minato perked his head up. Did he hear that right?

"Wha…. What….. did you say….. Sasuke-Oji?" asked Minato fearfully, wondering if he had imagined it.

"You heard me, alright. I can take you out there, where **you want to go**..." smiled Sasuke. He knew his godson would love this chance. He knew it was stupid and crazy, and he especially did not want to invoke the anger of his Blonde Wind-User best friend, and **especially** not the outright and righteous female fury of said Blonde Wind-User best friend's wife, the Blonde Wind Mistress as she pounded Sasuke's brains out for daring to put her young in such danger.

But Sasuke didn't care. He loved his grandson, and hated the idea of his grandson being ill-treated unwittingly.

Minato's eyes brightened when he heard that. He nodded his head eagerly.

"YEAHHHH! LET'S GO, UNCLE SASUKE!" said Minato.

-End Flashback-

He remembered the rest of that day – it sure was a time of genuine fun with his godfather, and allowed him to explore the beauty of the forest he had so desired to see….

-Flashback-

-Konoha Woods-

Minato skipped happily through the woods as he picked up countless leaves, fallen tree branches, twigs, and even little rocks and put all of those natural gifts into his pockets. He even ran over to a nearby river and picked up some sand, pocketing that as well, and froze some parts of the river and scraped out the ice with his sword, also putting that into his pocket. He kept those frozen with his Ice-chakra as he continued to skip through the woods happily.

Sasuke sweat-dropped at this sight. He knew his god-son loved nature to a fine degree, but not so much that he was becoming somewhat obsessed with it.

"Minato-kun, slow down! I can't keep up with you, even with my _Shunshin_" Sasuke frantically said.

Then he heard a scream.

_"Oh, no, I can't let anything happen to my grandson! Sakura-chan will kill me!"_ thought Sasuke frantically. He _Shunshined_ out of the foliage to see a ninja clad in a black jumpsuit, silver gloves, and a mask that had a _Water dragon_ painted on it.

"Ryu Soto….. Renegade Shinobi of the Mist….. Attempted to Oust the Mizukage out of power but failed….." Sasuke said with venom in his voice.

"And Sasuke Uchiha, a key power in the Fourth Shinobi World War, slayer of Deidara of the terrorist group the Akatsuki, holder of the last legendary Dojutsu, the _Mangekyo Sharingan_, and the last of the fearsome Uchihas to boot. " Ryu said with a snicker.

"Ryu… your S-class Criminal days are over…." Sasuke gritted his teeth as he readied his sword of Kusanagi.

"Na, uh, uh, Sasuke Uchiha….. touch me, and I **will kill **this brat…." Ryu said.

"Sasuke-Oji!" cried Minato.

"PUT. THE. BOY. DOWN." Sasuke said, anger in his voice so hot that they put Amaterasu to shame.

"I am sorry, but that cannot happen. Orochimaru-kun has tasked me with getting this boy and his DNA so that he can further craft the future generation of Ice-Users in Otogakure….. and he has offered me a **fine bounty** for the capturing of this boy…. he'll make a fine specimen… and Orochimaru-**kun** will enjoy skinning the boy alive for his experiments regarding Ice-charka…." Grinned an evil Ryu.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. He hated that Snake Sage, and anyone that dared to work with such a vile and venomous piece of scum like him.

"How did you know that he had Ice-Release" asked Sasuke in blatant rage.

"Ku,ku,ku, Sasuke-**kun**, Orochimaru has his spy networks. And he especially find out if a **traitor **to Otogakure reigns freely in this world…. Orochimaru-**kun** hates **traitors**…." Grinned Ryu.

"Well, I must take this boy back to my contractor. But I might as well remove one more traitor to Otogakure, as a faithful shinobi to my homeland…."

Sasuke gritted his teeth. "You are an even worse of a traitor, to bow down to such a piece of scum like him."

"And one more thing. To threaten me is one thing. But to **threaten my grandson**, especially with the intent of submitting him to the will of such a piece of **scum **like Orochimaru, is unforgivable to me. **Be prepared to meet your downfall**."

And with that, Sasuke closed his eyes, and opened them to reveal his _Rinnegan_, the mightiest of all Dojutsu. He teleported right behind Ryu.

"Wha-What!?" stuttered Ryu.

Sasuke kicked him in the back of the head, and as Minato flew out of his arms, he caught him gracefully with his prosthetic left harm that was crafted from Hashirama's cells. He _Shunshined_ to the nearest tree.

"SASUKE-OJI!" cried Minato as he hugged his godfather.

Sasuke's eyes softened when he looked upon his innocent and adorable godson. He promised himself to not let such valuable and precious childhood innocence be taken away, as it was valuable to one's development as a strong shinobi and protector of his or her loved ones and the village. Sasuke had lost his in his acts of revenge toward Itachi, and he promised himself that such a terrible fate **would not** happen to his grandson.

Sasuke hugged his godson. He put Minato slowly down, patted him on his shoulders, then turned him around so that they were looking face-to-face.

Ryu, recovering form the strong kick, recollected himself. "You will not get away so quickly, Sasuke-**kun. **Prepare to meet **your **downfall!"

"Minato, stay here."

"Sasuke-Oji, I don't want you to get hurt!"

Sasuke laughed at Minato's naïve, yet nevertheless admirable and adorable love for his family and friends.

"Don't worry, Minato. After all, your godfather is the strongest Shinobi out there."

"Really? Even more than my dad?" asked Minato with big teal eyes.

Sasuke snickered. This was sure a great way of getting revenge on Naruto for pulling a stupid prank on him a week before regarding Shino's insects being placed in his wardrobe, and a screaming Sakura (who was doing the laundry that time) bashing Sasuke on the head for daring to put something so vile near his clean clothes in the wardrobe drawers.

"Yup, Minato, your **godfather** is a **lot** stronger than **your dad**" said Sasuke with a smirk.

Minato's eyes only twinkled at his godfather's awesomeness. He wished his father wasn't so lame and so much of a loser, and was more like his "super-awesome" godfather.

"Prepare to die, Sasuke **Uchiha! **I am more than privileged with the chance of killing such a **traitor**" said Ryu.

Sasuke opened his eyes, reverting his eyes back to the _Mangekyo Sharingan_ form. With his trust Dojutsu primed, he casted a single Genjutsu on Ryu.

When Ryu was charging Sasuke, he closed his eyes, only to reopen them to find himself in a Ballerina dress with his armpits not shaved, dancing for the 5 Kages at their summit. The 5 Kages – Kakashi, Gaara, Mei, the Raikage, even Onoki – laughed out loud at the scene.

Ryu screamed. "I'm supposed to assassinate the Kage, not ballerina dance for them!" he wailed as he fell on the floor, bawling his eyes out.

Sasuke and Minato sweat dropped at the same exact time.

"Ohhhhhhhhh-K, maybe that was too much" Sasuke said.

"Sasuke-Oji, what kind of Genjutsu was that?" Minato asked.

"It makes the victim dream of their worst nightmare for the next 48 hours." said Sasuke.

"What an odd nightmare…." Said Minato. Minato and Sasuke looked at each other at the same time, and laughed.

Sasuke piggy-backed Minato on his back for the rest of the trip back home, much to Minato's delight, and Sasuke's gentle laughter as he adored his loveable godson.

Ryu laid on the forest floor, screaming his lungs out as he dwelled on that nightmare in his head, oblivious to a dark, lizard-like creature descending on him…..

-End Flashback-

Minato smiled. Sasuke was his favorite Uncle out of all of them. Not that he didn't love Auntie Sakura – she treated him not just as a godson, but a surrogate son as well. She had her temper issues, and her tendency like his own mother to force him to eat yucky, healthy foods like "soldier pills", which Auntie Sakura argued that Minato "should like and eat with a passion for health". But Sasuke definitely had a large par tin his heart. Minato smiled at this prospect.

But then, he heard a loud scream coming form the east of the forest. Minato sighed, wondering who the damsel-in-distress was this time, as our brave Blonde Wind-User hero and protagonist set off to save the next Damsel-in-distress that our valiant, brave, courageous, and handsome, but nevertheless romanticized "Super-tramp of the woods" was dutifully assigned by some "high kind of the lands" he had imagined to protect with his life and noble heart.


	12. Bueno Dolor

Chapter 12

Minato ran through the woods, searching for the sound of the fair maiden that had called his name. His high and noble king would not be pleased to see that he had let his fair and beautiful daughter be hurt by some foul creature, and this was just one step for the brave and noble but nevertheless romanticized Minato to redeem himself. But when he heard the scream again, it was not the screaming of the fair maiden he had so dreamed of saving in his very disillusional and self-romanticized dream. Rather, it was a rather bird-like scream of some kind of creature. But what kind? Minato didn't remember saving creatures as part of those myths, legends, and fairy-tails that older Shinobi loved to tell their children about the endeavors of various fictional brave Shinobi….

-In the distance-

Two black, lizard-like creatures stood around a lake, whapping their tales on said creature.

"Agghhhh! HELLLLP MEEEE! HELLLLP!" cried said creature.

Black Lizard 1 slammed its tail on the creature, wondering why the creature did not go into a deep slumber so that it and its fellow brethren could satisfy their hunger.

"Ouch, won't somebody stop them!?" yelled out the creature.

Black Lizard 2 slammed its tail on the creature as well, with equal bewilderment upon why the creature wasn't submitting to their endless torture with their long and powerfully=muscled appendages.

"Ow! Ow! Help…. Somebody! Can't anybody hear me?" cried out the creature.

-Back to Minato-

Minato heard the scream. He frowned. The sound of that scream was **definitely** not that of a woman. He frowned. Maybe the fairy tales predicted of a Shinobi that would save a young prince of a faraway land, where he could then meet and fall in love with the sister of said Royal…..

With that thought, Minato shook his head, resolute on his decision, and grabbed his **very large** Tessen, and with that, ran ahead to stop what seemed to be a massacre going on ahead in front of him.

-5 min. later-

Minato dashed through the remainder of the woods. The **extremely** **vast** stores of Chakra he had inherited from his Wind-Style Master Father, Naruto Namikaze, who is also an Uzumaki, enabled him to _Wind Shunshin_ (painstakingly taught to the youngster by said youngster's Wind-Style Master Mother) all the way to the mistress (or maybe majesty) he was supposed to save. But what he saw instead bewildered him.

Two of the same lizards Minato had fought earlier were slamming their tails on what seemed to be an **extremely large** unrolled scroll, trying to incapitate their prey so that they could devour it. When Lizard 2 lifted its tail off of the scroll, the remainder of the scroll confused the bewildered Minato even more.

The scroll had two eyes on the middle of the sheet, , with a mouth underneath those eyes. Out of the mouth was a long tongue that the creature was sticking out In an exasperated fashion as it endured the endless and powerful slamming of the creatures' tails on it. Under the eyes sat a dumb-looking set of nostrils, oddly positioned so that the face looked almost like a shark's. The scroll was obvious beaten up – little tears and crevices on the mountain-wall-texture-like papyrus cascaded throughout the scroll, telling the story of how long these beasts were beating it. The top and bottom of the scroll had the wooden rollers of your standard Sealing scroll. Around the face of the scroll were various Sealing markings that casted for an unknown jutsu. The back of the scroll was covered in diamond-like patterns of alternating colors lf blue – Ocean-like shades of azure and light-sky-blue emeralds of cyan.

As the boy noticed the scroll's true appearance, the scroll couldn't help but also in turn notice the boy. Seeing that the boy carried such a fearsome weapon such as that **extremely large** Tessen of his, he called out to the boy.

"Hey Kid, You There!"

Lizard 1 continued his barrage of smacks on the scrolls' head in a concerted effort with Lizard 2 and it's smacks to continue the poor scroll's mind-scarring concussions.

"OW!" screamed the scroll. "Hey! Don't just stand there! Do something!"

Lizard 2 continued its concerted but nevertheless humorous act of smacking the scroll on the head with Lizard 1 and thus continue their reign of terror on the miserable piece of papyrus.

"**OWWWW!**" continued the screech of the scroll. "What's wrong with you!? Do you like watching me take this abuse!? Help me!".

Minato was broken out of his stupefied confusion when the two dark lizards finally took notice of him, snarled, and began to paw the ground with their claws as they readied to tail whip Minato to oblivion.

Minato looked at the two black lizards. _"There's no way I can handle two at once!" _ Minato frantically thought. But then, Minato noticed in his previous fight with a dark lizard that it was momentarily stung when he launched a _Wind Scythe_ on it.

_"Hmmmm….. Maybe I can paralyze them temporarily so that I can have an opportunity to strike!". _Minato grinned. This was why so many people noted that he was a person with the best of two worlds: the perseverance, stamina, and determination of his father, but nevertheless not being scatterbrained as his other Uzumaki counterpart, as he had inherited the impeccable intelligence, wisdom, knowledge, wits, and genius of his mother, Temari Sabuka.

With that last thought, Minato instinctively took out his** extremely large** Tessen to release a gust of wind at the two monsters.

_"Wind Style: Wind Scythe Jutsu!"_ Minato called out as he unleashed the **extremely penetrating **wind chakra gusts from his **extremely large **Tessen. The Wind Mistress's wrath and deadliness in battle indeed lived on in her son, while her husband's sheer Shinobi strength and stamina also flowed in her son's veins.

True enough, the two monsters were both equally paralyzed by the penetrating winds for a split second. With that significant bout of time, Minato unsheathed the sword given to him by Ganryu from its sheath on the right of his weapons belt, and created the signature Ice-Chakra flow in his sword he was known for by his trainers and peers alike. He dashed towards the monsters, slashing at the two vile beasts as said two beasts were still slightly stunned by the** very intense** Wind-Chakra gust unleashed from the **fearsome** and **extremely large** Tessen of his that he had received from his mother, the **wickedly deadly **Wind Mistress herself.

With a single swing, the two monsters were instantly both neatly cut in half, black liquid oozing out of their wounds as they lay on the floor. The creatures gave a yelp of undiluted anger as they attempted to spear Minato with their claws, but to no avail. The creatures, now lifeless, sunk into the earth, the dark matter of their bodies and blood sinking into the Earth and its core.

Minato breathed a sigh of relief. He ran to the front of the scroll, wondering what to do with the new accomplice he had just found that may **just** aid him in this epic yet nevertheless romanticized quest to save a maiden of nobility from a faraway land.

But said scroll did not offer such assistance. In stead, it looked at Minato with a haughty and proud eye, taking Minato's endeavor for granted.

"Phew! Well done! That was close. Not that I couldn't handle them myself…."

Minato's nose crinkled at the scroll's rather rude response to his gracious and "noble" action. His romanticization of his journey still reigned free.

The scroll stopped its haughty course of heart and instead frowned in extreme bewilderment.

"But that's beside the point! What in the 5 village's name is a lone child doing so deep in the woods?"

Minato sighed. He had expected a much more thankful and more importantly, epic and royal greeting form this scroll. He had hoped that it would be the key to him going on an epic journey away from the monotone and unsubstantial nature of the village, and instead toward an area where he felt accepted and loved for what he was. He had so hoped to embark on that journey, hopefully finding a faraway land with a noble King to commission him to do his Royal Bidding…. And gain glory, riches, respect, and most importantly acceptance from society…

"I see…. Boy… you were the one I was supposed to meet….."

Minato raised his eye in a confused, almost panicked expression. Had he eaten too much ramen? Maybe that was why he felt so disillusioned. First he meets a talking scroll, then he ends up defending it. Finally, the scroll tells him that they were destined to meet together. He couldn't have eaten **that much** ramen, could he?

"Owwww….." Minato said as he clenched his tummy in pain. Minato's stomach ached intensely as it felt sick from being shaken back and forth from Minato's _Wind Shunshin_ while simultaneously trying to process the cups of cancer and their contents. _"Ok….. Maybe that is a possibility….." _Minato thought.

"But, how do you know that you are supposed to meet me?" asked Minato, wondering still why in the 5 Village's name he was talking to a talking scroll.

"Simple….." the scroll grinned. "I can sense people's hearts, and what they are really thinking. You, my boy, are searching for acceptance. You indeed are the one I was supposed to find…." Said the scroll.

"Ummmm….. O.K…" said Minato tentatively. He still couldn't believe that he was playing along with the incredulous things that this talking scroll was saying. Maybe instant ramen had liquor in it. Maybe that was why he was seeing such weird things.

_"Could it be a Genjutsu? Maybe I'm being tricked by the enemy….."_ Minato thought. With the Genjutsu-dispelling training he received form his father, Naruto, Minato pushed his palms together and closed his eyes.

_"Kai!"_ Minato said, hoping to dispel the Genjutsu.

When Minato opened his eyes, he saw a sweat dropping scroll, and the odd piece of animated papyrus still there. Minato frowned. So it had to be the ramen then…..

"Kid, I'm not a figment of your imagination caused by eating too much of that Poison you Humans call ramen….." said the scroll.

Minato was in shock. "Are you reading my mind!?" said Minato out loud.

The shook sighed, sweat dropping even more. "You petty humans…. You all claim to be so smart, wise, noble, righteous, and good, but you all forget the most important thing: the heart. The heart contains so many of our desires, and those desires can be used to fuel the acts of doing good or bad. Unfortunately, many times it has gone to the latter. This is the folly of mankind." Said the scroll.

Minato slapped his head. First he met a talking scroll, he defended what he believed was a talking scroll, now he was playing along with the crazy things the papyrus was saying, and now he was hearing philosophy form the scroll. Most of all, the scroll had made fun of his most valuable treasure: Cancer. Internally Minato was fuming at this last comment, but his discipline from his mother taught him not to be as hot-headed as his father, but rather cool-off and assess the situation in a calm manner just as how his wise and smart mother would. With that thought, Minato closed his eyes and held his breath, counting to 5.

The scroll looked at the boy and said boy's most recent action in bewilderment. "You do know that showing your negative emotions is one of the great follies of mankind, you know…." Said the scroll as it continued to preach its various articles of philosophy.

Minato by this time had a major head scrunch. He breathed in, taking is mother's advice by calming down. He made a very large sigh, wondering what in the world was going on.

"I can see that you doubt my existence. Very well – I will prove it to you." said the scroll.

With that said, the scroll jumped up into the air and smashed itself onto Minato's back, attaching itself to the clamp that was meant for Minato's **extremely large** Tessen, much to Minato's surprise and chagrin.

"HEY! That's where **MY FAN** goes! **NOBODY**, I mean **N-O-B-O-D-Y** messes around with **MY FAN**!" Minato yelled at the scroll. Minato hated it whenever anybody messed around with his **intensely beloved Tessen** – it seemed to be a part of him, almost being organically part of his body – he would **never**, **NEVER** go anywhere without his **extremely large** **Tessen** strapped on his back. It was a mainstay of his fighting style, of the combined combat style of his mother and father. The Tessen especially reminded him of his mother, though, as he once again had a very "clingy" relationship with his mother, never wanting to leave her side whenever the family had outings with other families, much to the pleasure of Kunoichi who marveled the young Blonde's "great and manly respect of women" and much to the distaste of his father who asked him to give him the "respect his father so deserved".

In short, the **extremely large** Tessen was a reminder of his beloved mother, and he would never let that sweet memory go away. It was funny too – just as he had an overprotective and obsessed stance on his Fan, so did his mother care a **bit** too much about her respective metal contraption, even sometimes inciting Naruto to joke that she should've married the weapon instead of him, as it made a much better husband that didn't "talk so much like a suicidal orange-clothed baka". No, it wasn't' just similar – Minato had inherited that overprotective and obsessed nature over the fan, often putting his and his mother's friends in embarrassed sweat drops whenever Minato or his mother "sweetly" (actually roughly) told them to back off lest they accidentally "hurt my metal best friend….". And now, this scroll, this **stupid, stupid, stupid **scroll wanted to take its place on his back? It could go throw itself into campfire if it wanted to, and Minato wouldn't care…

"It seems to me that you have Fan-Syndrome, much like you mother….." the scroll sighed.

Minato raised his eyebrow in confusion. What in the world was the scroll talking about. Could it really read his mind…. Er…. Heart, as it so called it?

"It seems to me that some humans, like you and your mother, seem to have an unhealthy level of infatuation with your main battle weapons. That will lead to a very unfulfilling and unsubstantiated life. Besides… wishing to murder someone will do your heart no good….." continued the scroll with its philosophies.

Minato's cheeks flushed, but his embarrassment was soon turned into annoyed anger as he reached out behind his back and attempted to pull of the dumb scroll out so that he could put his beloved War-Fan in its honored and respective place.

The scroll didn't budge, however. The scroll sneered at the boy. "Tssk. Tssk. Tssk. I am no **ordinary ** scroll. I cannot be torn away like any other **petty **paper scroll….."

If Minato wasn't just simply angry, he was **infuriated **by this very annoying and overly-intellectual scroll. He grabbed his Tessen and blasted a _Wind Scythe_ around his shoulder toward the scroll.

The scroll, once again, didn't budge. "Once again….. I cannot be pushed away **that **easily…." Said the scroll.

Minato was now tempted to grab his sword, blunten the end, and shove it up his Trachea. This scroll was becoming **so annoying**. Firstly, it was disturbing to see a sentient piece of paper. Secondly, said made so many disparaging and "petty" remarks about some kind of trivial "philosophies of mankind". Finally, and most of all, it had insulted his most favorite things: ramen (food for the kings) and his **beloved, extremely large** Tessen.

"Suicide is also another small part of the extremely wide spectrum of human folly…. It degrades the individual, turning him or her, trying to be politically correct here (in terms of gender, the scroll said as an aside), into…."

Minato walked up to a nearby tree and repeatedly smacked his head on the trunk, bringing chunks of wood to rain around him, and forcing the poor Woodpecker and its chicks to abandon ship and search for a much more peaceful, safe home, away from those recently appearing dark monsters and predators that repeatedly threatened their existence. In-flight, The Woodpecker shuddered. To the family of birds, this monster seemed to be the most fearsome of them all – what kind of creature had the power of causing such a major earthquake that could be felt a mile away from the forest itself?


End file.
